Code Lyoko: Reloaded
by LyokoGirl89
Summary: A series of episodes post season 4 of the Lyoko Warriors as they battle XANA once more while facing the inevitable. This is a 'what-if-Evolution-never-happened' kind of fanfiction. I hope you'll enjoy! Current episode: Ep.3 - Meltdown [Aired: 1-15-14; Next episode: 1-22-14 (?)]
1. When the Snow Falls

**A/N:** Well, it has begun! FanFiction wouldn't let me upload this yesterday. It kept saying there was a 503 error... Anyway, that's over with, and here's the first episode of Code Lyoko: Reloaded! I hope you all enjoy :)

* * *

**_Episode 1: When the Snow Falls_**

"A Christmas party? Why did I not hear of this?" complained Odd, hands on his hips. "You know I'm the king of all Christmas parties!"

"Chill out, Odd," Ulrich sighed from his bed, tossing a paper ball aimlessly into the air. "It's just a party. And besides, it's tomorrow. You'll have plenty of time to find someone to take."

Odd hurried towards the closet, leaning down and digging through the drawer on the bottom. "You know me, I can _always_ find a date!" He paused his digging and turned to Ulrich, a sly smile on his face. "I don't know about _you_ though."

Ulrich sat up, a defensive look on his face. "Hey, I could find a date before you with no problem at all!"

"Right. So you wouldn't mind if I took Yumi to the dance—"

"Don't you _dare!"_ Ulrich growled. When Odd let off another grin, Ulrich slammed his head back onto his pillow and sighed. "I…I just don't know anymore, I guess," he mumbled, staring out the window at the dark sky, lit up slightly by the half moon.

Odd frowned, feeling bad for his friend. "It's been six months since we stopped XANA. Why don't you just make a move?"

"Yeah, and then have her get angry with me for asking when she clearly stated that we're just 'good friends'? Yeah, I don't think so," Ulrich grumbled, turning his gaze to the ceiling.

"Oh, I don't know!" Odd said teasingly, turning back to the drawer and taking out a Santa hat. "I really think it would be different this time." Before Ulrich could answer, Odd shoved the hat over his hair and stood up smiling and holding his hands out beside him. "How do I look? Awesome, right?"

Ulrich turned to Odd with an arched eyebrow, and then started laughing to himself. "You look like Sissi gave you a Christmas makeover."

Odd frowned. "It's…just a hat, though."

"My point exactly!" Ulrich laughed.

Grumbling to himself, Odd tore the hat off his head and chucked it back in his drawer, plopping down on his bed while Ulrich continued to laugh.

* * *

"Hmm… I think that the polarity of the two magnets should be maximized to the highest level in order to make the equation readable, don't you think?" Aelita asked from atop Jeremy's bed, lying on her stomach with her feet in the air behind her.

From beside her in a chair, Jeremy looked up from his notes, his pencil on the side of his chin. "What's that?" he asked as Aelita showed him her notepad. "Oh, wow! That's absolutely right… Why didn't I think of that?"

"Anyway…" she began, setting down her notes as Jeremy wrote on his. "Are you going to the Christmas dance tomorrow? Before everyone leaves for three months?"  
"Huh?" Jeremy looked up from his notes. "Oh, um… I don't know. Are you going?"

A blush was beginning to become evident on Aelita's face. "Well, I was hoping to go with a certain someone, but I don't know if he's going to be busy or not."  
"Oh, who's that?" Jeremy asked, clearly oblivious to what she was saying.

"Well, he's intelligent, handsome, and nice…" she started. "He has the cutest nose…and the softest blonde hair…"

The brainiac looked up at Aelita. "I know sure as the sun rises you aren't talking about Nicholas," he scoffed. Looking off on his own, he added, "I'm not even sure if he takes showers every day…"

"He wears glasses…" Aelita continued, looking straight at Jeremy with a hinting tone evident.

Absentmindedly, Jeremy fixed his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose, and then froze. "Oh… Oh! Wait…" He turned his gaze to Aelita, his face burning up. "Y-you're talking about m-me, aren't you?"

"Maybe…" Aelita giggled, blushing brightly.

A few seconds of silence passed before Jeremy began blurting words. "I-I don't have anything to do tomorrow. I-I mean, I _guess_ I could… We can go to the…the dance…?" he stammered, his voice cracking slightly.

"Really? Oh, thank you, Jeremy!" Aelita said happily, leaning over and hugging the genius around the neck. As soon as she pulled away from Jeremy, she looked at the clock. "Oh, wow. I better get some rest." She turned back to Jeremy—who was still frozen with shock. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

Jeremy just stared frozen in place as Aelita got up from his bed and headed over to the door. "Uh…Aelita?" he finally managed to get out.

She turned back around with a smile on her face. "Yes, Jeremy?"

"Are you sure that Yumi's parents won't mind you staying with them for break? You know, since Odd didn't think it was a good idea for you to go back with him…"  
"I'm 100% sure," she assured him, smiling. "Good night." And with that, she headed out the door.

Jeremy waited a few seconds before letting out a huge gust of air. "I'm sure gonna miss her…" he breathed. Turning to his bed, he looked down and gasped. "Oh, she forgot her notebook!" Grabbing it, he raced out after her.

* * *

"Who are you taking? Huh? Huh?"

"Hiroki, you brat, leave me alone!" Yumi growled, hand on the side of her face as she tried so desperately to watch a video on the internet. "I don't even want to go, so would you just leave?"

"Not until you take Ulrich to the dance, Yumers," Hiroki giggled.

Yumi whipped her head around to her brother, her face bright red. "We're just good friends!" she grumbled.

"Keep telling yourself that, I think you're really convincing yourself," he said.

Angry, Yumi jumped from off her bed and began chasing her brother. "Come back here!" she growled angrily as Hiroki took off from her room and down the stairs.

"Not unless you confess!" Hiroki called after her as he raced through the hallway and towards the front door.

"I don't like Ulrich like that!" Yumi growled. "Stop saying I do!"

Hiroki whipped open the door and hurried outside, his sister chasing after him. "That's not what your _diary_ says!" he sang.

Yumi froze in place. "You _read_ my _diary?!"_ she screeched.

Hiroki turned around, running backwards. "Yeah, but it was just the same stuff. 'Yesterday, Ulrich looked at me with the most sincere smile, and my heart just _melted'!"_

"Oh, you little—oh!" Yumi flinched as a drop of wetness landed directly on her nose. She looked up into the sky, seeing that from the last time she had looked outside from her window, the moon was completely covered by clouds. Suddenly, small little flakes of frozen rain began to fall from the sky.

"Snow! Whoo!" Hiroki laughed, running around in circles from the sudden storm.

Yumi—forgetting all about her brother—continued to stare into the sky. "A little early for snow…"

* * *

Jeremy knocked on Aelita's door quietly, making sure that if she was getting dressed, he just didn't barge in. That would be rude…and embarrassing to her.

"Come in."

He opened the door slowly. "Uh…Aelita?"

The door opened the rest of the way, revealing Aelita in her pink pajamas. "Oh, Jeremy! What're you doing here?"

He blinked, lost in thought. "Um…y-you forgot your notebook," he stuttered, holding the book out to her.

"Thanks," she replied, smiling as she took it from Jeremy's hand. "I'll be sure to remember it in the future."

"Uh…yeah. Goodnight. Sweet dreams. All that stuff," Jeremy chuckled.

"Goodnight, Jeremy."

Hands in his pockets, Jeremy watched as Aelita closed the door, and then began back off to his own dorm for some well-deserved rest. Since they had defeated XANA, Jeremy had been getting the required amount of sleeping hours that teens needed, because he hadn't needed to stay up all night trying to perfect programs or stop XANA from attacking. He liked the luxury of waking up well-rested and ready for action.

Finally reaching his dorm, he put his hand on the handle and opened the door. Immediately, an arctic blast hit him in the face, causing him to shout with surprise. Holding his hands in front of his eyes, he looked for the source of the cold blast and found that his window had been opened, and there was a winter storm blowing around outside. Hurrying towards the window, he struggled with closing it as the wind blew hard at his face. Succeeding in closing the window, he frowned. "It's a little early for a winter storm in the beginning of November…" he mumbled. "Especially one that just pops up out of nowhere…"

A thought occurred to him, and he turned on his laptop, immediately going to the weather station's live channel. Watching the weather loop for a good minute, studying the patterns, he realized that this storm should never have happened. "There's no indication of a storm over France… So why are we getting a blizzard?"  
He looked up and out the window, watching as the window quickly frosted up. "Strange. Very strange."

* * *

"Holy crap, Ulrich. Look outside!" Odd exclaimed, his face plastered against the bottom of the window.

From his bed, Ulrich looked out of the window with a frown plastered on his face. "Yeah. It's snowing, so what?"

"It's _snowing!_ That's what!" Odd laughed. "Snow is amazing!"

"Snow is cold," Ulrich grumbled. "And annoying. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get some rest. Night."

Odd turned around right as Ulrich covered himself with his blanket, going straight over his head. "Aw, you're no fun…"

"I said _night,_ Odd," Ulrich sighed.

"…Fine," Odd murmured. "If you don't want to have fun, then I'll just go have fun outside myself."

Ulrich uncovered his head to watch Odd as he hurried to put on his shoes and a jacket. "Don't come crying to me when you get in trouble for being out past curfew."

"Ulrich, you're sweet. You actually care!" Odd replied.

"Sarcasm, Odd. Learn a thing or two." Ulrich pulled the blanket back over his head and turned towards the wall.

"Whatever, Ulrich. Be a grump. I'm going to have fun while you stay inside and be a bore," Odd said, hurrying out the door, leaving Ulrich to sleep in peace.

* * *

Jeremy eyed his laptop with suspicion from his bed as he sat on the edge with his pajamas. "It could just be a bug with the weather service live feed," he murmured, lying in his bed and pulling his covers over him, taking off his glasses and setting them on his nightstand. "It's just _something_ with a simple explanation…" he sighed, closing his eyes.  
A few minutes passed and Jeremy was fast asleep, snoring just ever so slightly. His laptop hummed back to life from its sleep mode, buzzing incoherently, red electricity crackling from the charger plug and traveling straight into the laptop. The screen flickered with an image for a few moments, before shutting off completely.

**~Code Lyoko~**

Golden rays of sunshine filtered in through the window of Ulrich and Odd's dorm room, rising Ulrich from his deep slumber. His eyes cracked open slightly, he reached his arm up and rubbed the sleep from them. "I haven't had that good a sleep since Odd came to Kadic…" he murmured, sitting up and rubbing them some more. Removing his hand from his eye, he looked around the room, noticing Kiwi still sound asleep atop Odd's bed from last night, but no sign of Odd. Ulrich frowned. "Did he already go to breakfast?"  
As soon as Ulrich got to his feet, Kiwi rose his head and looked around the room. Once the dog noticed his master was nowhere to be found, he jumped off the bed and sniffed along the floor of the room. Ulrich watched Kiwi as he moved around the room, nose to the ground. He bent down as Kiwi came up to him whimpering and patted the pooch on his head. "Don't worry, Kiwi. I'm sure he just went to breakfast." As if the word reminded him, Ulrich turned towards Odd's drawer and pulled out a can of dog food and Kiwi's bowl, dumping the can in the bowl. The dog immediately began to chow down. Ulrich chuckled. "Just like Odd…"

A knock sounded on his door, causing Ulrich to look towards the sound on instinct. "Odd, is that you?"

"No, it's Jeremy."

Ulrich sighed. "Yeah, come in, Jer," he replied, sitting back down on his bed. The door opened and the brainiac appeared, still in his pajamas, laptop in hand.

"Something strange happened last night," he began, sitting next to Ulrich. "When I went back to my room, my window was open and there was a blizzard outside."

"Oh, yeah! That's right!" Ulrich exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "Odd was telling me to look outside at the snowstorm."

"Yeah, but it's strange because it's too early for snow and the storm just appeared suddenly," he explained, continuously pressing his power button. "That, and my laptop won't turn on."

"Did you charge it?"

"Obviously, Ulrich," Jeremy put in.

"Hmm… You're right. That _is_ strange," Ulrich agreed. He looked over to Kiwi, and saw that the dog was finished eating. He picked the bowl back up and placed it back in the drawer. "You hungry?"

"Yeah, let's go get dressed and grab Aelita and go," Jeremy replied, shutting his laptop and heading out the door.

Once Ulrich got dressed, he met Jeremy and Aelita on the bottom floor and they began outside together. Jeremy stopped abruptly, and the others turned to look at him. "What's wrong, Jer?" Ulrich asked.

"There…was a blizzard last night…" He pointed around. "There's no snow anywhere."

Ulrich and Aelita turned to look, and sure enough, there was no snow anywhere at all. "This just adds to the strangeness factor," Ulrich said, turning to Jeremy. "What does it mean?"

"It's…just strange is all," he replied, starting towards the mess hall again. Aelita and Ulrich exchanged a worried glance before following after him.

"Do you think he may be hiding something?" Aelita whispered to Ulrich.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess he _kinda_ looks suspicious."

After a moment or two, they stepped into the cafeteria and looked around. Yumi sat over at their usual table and they headed over, skipping the lunch line. "Hey, guys!" she called with a wave.

"Hey, Yumi," Ulrich answered, sitting down. "You haven't seen Odd by any chance, have you?"

"No…" she answered slowly, shaking her head. "I thought he'd be with you guys."

"We thought he'd be here," Jeremy said, setting his laptop on the table.

"Well, he's not here, and I don't think he has been. All the food is still intact," Yumi joked.

"Yeah, well I'm kind of worried now," Ulrich said. "He went out last night to go play with snow, and he's not here, or anywhere else."

"This is troubling," Jeremy grumbled, his hand on his chin. "First the strange storm that appeared out of nowhere, and now Odd is missing."

"He could just be somewhere we haven't checked yet," Aelita said, trying to lighten the mood. "Maybe we could ask everyone if they've seen him."

"Good idea, Aelita," Yumi agreed. "I'll go ask everyone who's still in their rooms. You guys can check in here."

"Is something the matter, guys?"

All four of them turned to see William standing at the head of the table, a confused look on his face. Ulrich frowned. "It doesn't concern you, William."

"Hey, I'm just asking is all! There's nothing wrong with asking, now is there?" he snapped back.

"Guys, calm down," Jeremy said, his hands out over the table. Turning to William, he added, "Odd is missing, and we don't have any clue as to where he is. Have you seen him?"

"Odd's missing? Did you check in the showers?" William asked.

"You know him, the first place he would've gone when he woke up would be here," Ulrich grumbled.

"Then I haven't seen him," he said simply with a shrug. "I wish I could help you, but I have yet to find a date for the dance." With a look in Yumi's direction, he left their company and headed over to a different table.

Ulrich arched an eyebrow at Yumi. "Am I missing something, or…?"

"No, you're good," she said quickly. "Anyway, I'm going to go look in the dorms. I wish you guys luck!"

Ulrich watched as Yumi left the mess hall with a completely confused expression. "What just happened?" he asked bluntly, arms out.

"She just wanted to find Odd as soon as she could, nothing else to it," Aelita told him. "It's fine, don't worry."

"Okay, fine," Ulrich stated, getting up from the table quickly. "Let's go ask around for Odd."

Jeremy and Aelita hurried after Ulrich as he walked over to the table closest to them—which just so happened to be Sissi's table. "Sissi, do you know where Odd is?" he asked.

"Um, no? Why would I know where that weird-haired freak is?" she replied snottily. "He's always with you, so why should I know?"

"You don't have to be so rude, Sissi," Aelita snapped. "If we need to know where someone is, it usually means we can't find them, and frankly I would like to know where my cousin is!"

_"Me_ being rude? _You're_ the one who's yelling at me, so you shouldn't talk," she said.

"Alright, alright, girls, calm down!" Jeremy exclaimed, causing the lunchroom to die down as they all wondered what was happening. "We're just looking for Odd, okay? No need to start a cat fight."

_"Cat_ fight?" Aelita exclaimed questioningly.

Ulrich could sense the tension between the two as they stared at each other. "I know I started this by asking her, but can we go ask around some more? I kind of want to find my best friend."

Aelita sighed and turned to Ulrich. "Yeah, sorry, Ulrich. I got a little carried away…"

"Let's go, Aelita," Ulrich sighed, walking towards the exit with both of his friends at his heels. Before they could reach the door, another student—Emelia—stood up in front of them.

"Did you guys say you were looking for Odd?" she asked.

Ulrich's eyebrows arched and he perked up slightly. "Have you seen him? He disappeared last night."

"Yeah, actually I saw him at this creepy old house in the woods while I was out for my morning jog. It was weird…the way he was just standing there…" Emelia murmured.

Ulrich turned to Jeremy and Aelita, worried glances plain on their faces. "The Hermitage!" he whispered, all of them running out the door.

"U-uh… You're welcome!" Emelia called after them as they vanished.

Hurrying outside, they stopped abruptly to see that it had begun snowing once more. An unsettling chill dawned over the trio, causing them to shiver. "L-let's hurry. It looks like it's going to get pretty bad soon," Jeremy remarked, taking off once more.

"It's snowing!" a boy shouted, running outside and rolling around in the blanket of snow that was starting to drape the ground. More kids poured out of the cafeteria, doing circles or licking the flakes from the sky.

Ulrich and Aelita turned and watched the kids playing, causing Jeremy to pause in his tracks as well. "I have a bad feeling about this…" Ulrich murmured.

"Come on, guys!" Jeremy called with a wave, snapping Ulrich and Aelita out of their trance.

"Guys, wait up!" Yumi called, hurrying over to them and joining them on their way. "Did you find Odd?"

"Emelia told us she saw him this morning near the Hermitage," Aelita told her, her breaths pluming from her mouth as she spoke.

"The Hermitage? Why would he be there?" Yumi wondered.

"We don't know," Jeremy said. "That's what we're going to find out."

A few moments passed before they reached the Hermitage, the snow crunching underneath their shoes, getting thicker and thicker. Finally, they reached the old house, running alongside the fence. Ulrich looked over into the yard and gasped. "Odd!"

The rest of the group followed his gaze to find Odd with his snow gear on, rolling huge snowballs and making a snowman. "He's making a snowman? Typical Odd…" Yumi chuckled.

"And by the looks of it, he's been doing it for quite some time," Jeremy observed, pointing at the dozens of snowmen that were already made.

Ulrich walked into the yard and towards Odd. "Odd, what're you doing out here? You gave everyone a scare."

The blonde didn't answer. Instead, he continued to make the snowman he was currently trying to make.

"Odd? Hey!" Ulrich reached out a hand to touch his friend's shoulder.

"Ulrich, wait!" Jeremy called.

As Ulrich laid his hand on Odd's shoulder and looked back to Jeremy, Odd whipped around, a menacing look on his face. He snarled, causing Ulrich to turn back to him. Odd whipped his shoulder back, sending Ulrich flying back into a snow pile, covering him with fresh flakes.

"Ulrich!" Yumi called, hurrying into the yard, followed by Jeremy and Aelita. "Are you okay?" she asked, leaning down next to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ulrich answered, rubbing his head. "But what the heck?" The four of them looked up to see Odd moving at inhuman speeds, making more and more snowmen as the more snow fell from the sky.

"I had a feeling…" Jeremy began, shaking his head. "This has XANA written all over it."

_"XANA?"_ the rest of them echoed in disbelief.

"A snowstorm in the beginning of November? One that popped out of nowhere? Not to mention this morning when the snow vanished, and now when we find him and he's stuck on hyper drive?" Jeremy said, pointing his hand at the blonde, who was still rolling snow.

"I guess you do have a point…" Ulrich muttered.

"But how could XANA still be alive?" Aelita asked, a desperate plea in her tone. "Did my father sacrifice himself for _nothing?!"_

"Aelita, I honestly have no idea how he could have survived the multi-agent program," Jeremy said. "But right now, we have more problems to deal with—like Odd, for example."

"Why is he making so many snowmen?" Yumi asked finally.

The four of them turned and watched as Odd finished off his last snowman, putting the last stick in its side. Odd turned, the eye of XANA clear as crystal in his eyes. The blonde smirked, letting out a screech and pointing at the four of them. Suddenly, the dozens of snowmen shifted to life, causing the four of them to gasp.

"Uh-oh!" Ulrich exclaimed. "This is bad!"

"If XANA's controlling the snowmen…" Jeremy gasped. "The other students!"

* * *

"Kids, no pushing!" Jim shouted as he watched as the students made snow angels, snowmen, and snowballs.

"I'm gonna get you!" Hiroki laughed, holding up a snowball as he chased Milly and Tamiya, them squealing with joy.

"Silly babies, playing with snow," Sissi said snidely. "I, for one, am completely over that stuff."

"It does look like fun though," Herve stated from beside Nicholas.

"Yeah…" Nicholas murmured.

Sissi slapped Herve over the head. "Don't revert to their childish ways!" she scolded. "You're above them!"

Suddenly, a snowball appeared right in front of Sissi's face, hitting her square on. She let out a shout as the snowball fell apart as it hit her face. Herve and Nicholas gasped as Sissi began fuming, her face melting the snowball as it heated up. "Who threw that?!" she shouted.

The kids grew quiet as Sissi continued to accuse them all. "Show yourself now!" she growled.

As if on cue, the snowmen that the students made began shifting to life, wide grins on their faces as they snuck up behind the children as they were occupied.

"Uh…S-Sissi?" Herve began, pointing a shaky finger towards them.

"Not _now,_ Herve!" she growled. A stick finger poked her on the shoulder and everyone gasped. "I said not _now!"_ She turned around and gasped, seeing the snowman who had poked her shoulder. "AHHHH!" she screamed, causing a chain reaction with the students, who began running off in every direction.

"Now, kids, stay calm! There's gotta be a rational explanation for this!" Jim tried, but to no avail. A snowman picked Jim up, causing him to shout in surprise, and threw him into a snowdrift, silencing him.

* * *

As the snowmen drew closer, Ulrich stepped protectively in front of them in his Pencak Silat pose. "You guys get to the factory. I'll handle the Frosty the Snowman wannabe's."

"But—!" Yumi began.

"No buts!" Ulrich turned his head around. "Go," he added more softly.

With an understanding nod, Yumi turned to the others. "We have to get to the factory, come on!"

"Let's take the Hermitage path!" Aelita suggested, hurrying off towards the door that led to the secret passageway.

Ulrich waited as they disappeared into the pathway, and then turned to the snowmen once more. "You wanna play? Come on!" he shouted, kicking forward.

* * *

Jeremy, Aelita, and Yumi hurried into the factory, and towards the elevator. "This brings back memories…" Yumi murmured.

"No time for sightseeing, Yumi. We have to get Lyoko back on," Jeremy explained, pressing the button for the elevator.

"Right," she answered.

As soon as the elevator came up, they all stepped inside and began their descent. Aelita broke the tension. "Are you sure Yumi and I are all that's needed to stop this attack?"

"I'm not," he answered. "But we can always try, right?" Aelita and Yumi both nodded. The elevator doors opened and they all stepped inside the supercomputer power room. The operating system was up out of the floor, but the switch was still off. Jeremy stepped over to the switch slowly, his hand out.

"Hold on, Jeremy," Aelita said quickly, stopping Jeremy. He turned to her. "If we turn Lyoko back on…won't XANA gain full power again?"

Jeremy sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of," he said. "But if he's already possessing snowmen and Odd, then I'm sure that he's still got quite some power." With a nod from Aelita, Jeremy turned back to the switch and pulled it down, turning the machine on. The system glowed bright yellow as it turned back on, quickly switching to the bright orange that it was before it was turned off. Jeremy turned back to the girls. "Alright. Let's hurry."

* * *

Ulrich swung his leg through another snowman, it vaporizing into another snow pile on the ground. "Yeah!" he exclaimed, victorious. Suddenly, the snow piles that he had already defeated began taking form once more. Ulrich slackened his pose with his mouth wide open. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me…"

A stick arm smacked him from behind, causing him to fall face first into a snow pile. He leaned up, spitting the snow from his mouth, turning to face the snowmen as they surrounded him.

"It's no use, Warrior," Odd said, his voice distorted as he came up in front of Ulrich. "You cannot defeat me this time, and I will win."

"In your dreams, XANA!" Ulrich chuckled, jumping to his feet and kicking Odd square in the chest, causing him to tumble back into a snowman, vaporizing it. Ulrich winced. "Sorry, buddy…"

Odd looked up, a snarl on his face as the eye of XANA burned in his eyes.

* * *

"Ready guys?" Jeremy asked, sitting at the computer, his fingers over the keyboard, awaiting the okay.

"We're ready," Aelita confirmed, her voice coming through Jeremy's earpiece.

He nodded, typing extensively on the keyboard. "Alright, girls. Step into the scanners."

From down below, Yumi and Aelita stepped into their respective scanners, now aglow once more. As they turned around, the doors closed on their figures.

"Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, Yumi!" Jeremy began.

The scanners hummed to life, glowing brightly from the inside, the fans from below blowing upwards and causing their hair to flow slightly.

"Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Yumi!"

The scanner reel moved up slowly through the cylindrical tube, both Yumi and Aelita spinning slowly as the bottom of the scanner rotated.

"Virtualization!" Jeremy shouted, clicking the 'enter' key.

Aelita and Yumi's avatars virtualized slowly above the ice sector, them dropping to the ground as soon as it was finished. Yumi accidentally landed on her bottom. She stood up and rubbed it. "Ouch. I gotta get used to doing this again…" she laughed.

"Alright, guys. The superscan picked up an activated tower 50 meters west of your position," Jeremy said from above.

"Can we have our vehicles?" Yumi asked.

"No, sorry. When I rebooted the system, the programs for your vehicles also needed to reboot. That will take about two days."

Yumi shrugged. "Well, I guess we're going to have to go the old-fashioned way, right, Aelita?" she asked, turning to the pinkette.

Aelita nodded. "It'll be my pleasure," she giggled.

As they began running towards the direction Jeremy advised them, back in the supercomputer power room, a cloud began to virtualize over the system. An alarm sounded on Jeremy's computer, a window popping up and showing the genius the cloud that appeared over the system. "Uh, guys? We have another problem."

"What is it, Jeremy?" Yumi asked.

"A snow cloud just appeared over the computer system," he said, watching as the snow began to pour down from the cloud, slowly covering the floor and the system. "If it gets completely covered, I know for a fact that the system will fry."

"And that means we'll get trapped here!" Aelita finished as they still continued running.

"Exactly. So you guys have to hurry, or the snow will fall hard," Jeremy said.

"Easy for you to say," Yumi mumbled.

Suddenly, three red blips on the map appeared. Jeremy squinted at the dots, confused. "Guys, there's monsters up ahead. Although, I'm not sure what they are…"

Back on Lyoko, Yumi and Aelita hopped over a snow ledge, and immediately, Yumi got shot in the arm with a laser. "Uh…yeah. I think we see them," she answered, looking straight at the monsters. "And they're guarding the tower."

"What are they? Can you tell?" Jeremy asked.

Hurrying behind cover, Yumi peeked around the corner at them. "Well they kinda look like wolves."

"Wolves?" Jeremy echoed. "That's new… If XANA has enough power to make a new monster, then we have to muster up our strength to combat that power."

"They have long tails that curl up over their back like a scorpion," Yumi observed. "That's where they're firing from."

"Anything else?" he asked, typing on the computer.

"Well, they actually have eyes," she said, "but they have scars through them, like they're blind."

"Like they're blind…?" Jeremy paused for a moment before snapping his fingers. "That's it! They must hunt by scent! They're tracking you like actual wolves! Oh, XANA is _clever!"_

"Then that means we can't sneak up on them," Aelita said, peeking around from the other corner. "They know we're here, and they're waiting for us to get out in the open again."

"That's a problem…" Jeremy sighed. Quickly dialing Ulrich's phone number, he waited for the brunette to answer.

"Yeah, Jer?"

"How're you holding up over there, Ulrich?" he asked.

"Well…" Ulrich looked up from his position on the ground. "If you must know, I think I broke my leg. And the snowmen are gaining on me. How about you?"

"You broke your leg?" he asked in disbelief.

"It's nothing! Tell me what's happening," Ulrich ordered.

"Um…w-well Yumi and Aelita are having trouble. XANA made a new monster that looks like a scorpion and a wolf mixed," Jeremy told him. "Hang in there, Ulrich. We're almost there."

"It's not me I'm exactly worried about…" Ulrich murmured, hanging up his phone and watching as Odd stepped closer to him, an evil smirk on his face.

"Girls, Ulrich's in trouble. You have to deactivate that tower _fast!"_ Jeremy exclaimed.

"We're working on it, Einstein. It's not exactly easy," Yumi said. She turned to Aelita. "Think we should throw everything we've got at them?"

"If they track by scent, anything we throw at them would be a dead giveaway," she sighed. "But we have to try. You attack from the ground, and I'll try from the sky."

"Got it," Yumi said, nodding. "On three?"

"Sure."

"One… Two… Three!" Yumi shouted, running out from cover as Aelita activated her wings and took to the skies. The wolf monsters immediately noticed them and began shooting at them. Yumi blocked most of the shots with her fans, and as soon as she got an opening when they switched to shoot at Aelita, she threw one at its head where the eye of XANA was. The fan brushed through the wolf's fur, slicing through the eye and destroying it. "Well, at least we know they're easy to defeat," she observed.

As the wolves' comrade exploded into code, they began to fire at Yumi. Taken off guard, Yumi was quickly devirtualized. Before she was completely devirtualized, she shouted up to Aelita, "Deactivate the tower!"

"Yumi!" Aelita shouted, flapping in the air.

Hearing her voice, the wolves immediately drew their fire at her. She was hit in the arm, but quickly dodged the other lasers. Throwing an energy field at one of them, it dodged, smelling the object coming. "Jeremy, Yumi was devirtualized, and they smelled my energy field coming!"

"Try your best, Aelita!" Jeremy said.

Yumi stepped out of the scanner, breathing heavily with her hand on the side of the scanner. "Well, that was eventful…" she scoffed. Blinking, she realized that the scanner room was covered in four inches of snow as the snow in front of her scanner fell inside. "Uh, Jeremy?"

"Yeah, Yumi?" Jeremy called from above.

"There's a cloud in the scanner room as well," she replied, looking up and seeing the cloud. "It won't be long before one reaches up there too."

Jeremy looked up at the ceiling, seeing one starting to develop. "Uh…yeah. Right, okay. Go check below and see how the system room is doing, would you?"

"Sure, Jeremy," Yumi answered.

Jeremy leaned back in his chair as the cloud began producing snow. He shivered, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Aelita, how are things with you?"

"Well, I can't exactly get a good shot at them," she informed Jeremy, shooting another energy field at them, the wolves once again dodging to the side. "I'm going to try something."

"What?" Jeremy asked. When she didn't answer, he asked again. "Aelita, what?"

"Just wait," she answered, zooming straight down at the wolves. They continued to shoot at her, but she dodged the lasers by rolling through the air. Forming a large energy field in her hands, she closed her eyes. "I hope this works," she whispered.

Back by the supercomputer, Jeremy watched as the two red blips vanished. "Aelita, whatever you did, it worked! They're gone!"

Aelita laughed, landing in front of the tower. "I had a feeling," she replied.

"Jeremy, the control room is almost covered!" Yumi told Jeremy from below, crossing her arms in front of her chest and shivering. "I'm almost knee deep in snow!"  
"Hold on, Yumi!" Jeremy told her.

* * *

"Hurry up, guys…!" Ulrich growled to himself as the snowmen slid forward, evil smirks on their faces as he held onto his leg. "I don't want to die out here…!"

Odd just laughed from behind the snowmen, his hands clenched in fists. He threw his arms over his head, static electricity charging at his fingertips as he was ready to deliver the final blow for the snowmen to give.

Ulrich closed his eyes as the pain from his leg seared through his body.

* * *

Aelita walked into the tower, the rings on the floor lighting up as she stepped over them and walked into the middle. A halo covered her as she began floating up to the top.

* * *

The students cowered in the cafeteria, the door blocked by tables and chairs as they huddled together for both warmth and from fear. "Someone save us!" Emelia whimpered as the snowmen peered in through the windows.

* * *

Yumi watched as the system began zapping with electricity. "Jeremy! It's about to fry!" she exclaimed.

Hearing this, Jeremy gasped and held onto his earpiece tightly, dripping with sweat despite the snow falling in the room. "Aelita!"

Back on Lyoko, Aelita reached the top of the tower, and stepped onto the pad, it lighting up the rest of the way. She walked towards the center, the panel popping up. She pressed her hand lightly on the panel, the scan reading her palm print. It finally recognized her palm print, typing up her name.

* * *

Ulrich gasped and covered his head protectively as the snowmen all reached down to him.

* * *

The students at Kadic screamed as the snowmen finally broke into the cafeteria.

* * *

The words 'Code Lyoko' finally displayed on the panel, and Aelita sighed. "Tower deactivated!" she confirmed.

* * *

The snowmen vaporized just as they were about to hit Ulrich, covering him with snow dust. He whipped his head, shaking the flakes from his head, and looked up at Odd. The blonde screeched towards the sky, a black cloud emerging from his mouth and vanishing into the sky, causing Odd to fall over. "Odd!" Ulrich exclaimed, crawling over to him. "Odd, wake up!" The brunette gently smacked his friend's face. "Come on, buddy!"

Odd's eyes slowly opened and he groaned. "Oh, what happened?" he asked groggily.

"Oh, Odd!" Ulrich laughed, hugging his friend.

"Uh, did I miss an episode?" Odd asked.

Ulrich just laughed.

* * *

The snow began to melt in each of the rooms, Jeremy sighing with relief. "This calls for a return to the past. Ready, guys?"

"As ever," Yumi answered.

Typing the codes into the supercomputer, Jeremy pressed the 'enter' key. "Return to the past now!"

A white column of light shone through the holomap of Lyoko, enveloping the whole factory, and slowly the whole of Kadic.

**~Code Lyoko~**

"Ha! What'd I tell you?" Odd laughed, looping an arm around his date, who just so happened to be Emelia. "I told you I'd find a date tonight!"

Ulrich laughed from next to Yumi, Jeremy, and Aelita. "As good a one as you'll find, I guess," he chuckled.

"What's he mean?" Emelia asked.

Odd shook her gently. "Never mind him, Emelia," he said. "Let's go dance to Jingle Bell Rock!" And with that, he took off with her to the center of the dance floor.

Yumi turned to Jeremy. "So I guess this means XANA is back, huh?"

Jeremy nodded after a moment. "Yeah, unfortunately. But that just means we'll defeat him again. XANA will never win."

"That's the spirit, Einstein!" Ulrich said, getting the blonde in a headlock and giving him a friendly noogie. "The Lyoko Warriors have returned!"

The three of them laughed as Jeremy tried desperately to fix his hair. "Ulrich! It took me an hour to get my hair looking that way!"

The three of them just laughed harder as a blush appeared on Jeremy's face, hot with embarrassment.

* * *

**NEXT TIME ON CODE LYOKO: RELOADED...**

"XANA's trying to make a new tectonic plate!"

"The system is about to disconnect!"

_"YUMI, WAIT!"_

* * *

**A/N:** I tried to keep it like an actual TV show XD So, I'm sorry if you're all confused. The break lines are for like simple transitions between two things. The ~Code Lyoko~ things are like commercial breaks/transitions with the characters name and avatar like in the actual show. I thought I'd give you a little heads up with the next episode. It's called "8.0", and it will be uploaded two weeks from yesterday, so in Januarry or something XDD I know the date, but I don't wanna look it up lol. Anyway, please leave a review! I need constructive criticism please. What can I do to make this better? What do I need to improve? Or is it fine the way it is? :)

Review, my loves~


	2. 8,0

**A/N: **Ok, and here's episode 2! I'll try to keep these on an air schedule like with actual TV programs, but I can't be very sure. I'll try to get one out every Wednesday, ok? So if I don't upload it by Wednesday, send me a PM and remind me. XDDD Anyway...

* * *

**_Episode 2: 8.0_**

A massive, heavily-armored truck zoomed down the highway, going at least fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit. It bore the mark of the FBI on the side, followed closely with an eagle insignia. Inside the cabin, the passenger turned his head slightly to the driver. "You're going over the speed limit, Sir."

"Don't care. We're authorities," he answered gruffly. "We have rights. And besides, we're carrying a highly dangerous weapon."

"Tell me again what it does, Sir?" the passenger asked.

The driver sighed. "Oh, Stanley… Your short-term memory's gonna be the fall of ya someday… But nonetheless, the machine we're carrying in our back is a recreation of Tesla's earthquake machine. If fallen into the wrong hands in the wrong place, it could create massive destruction."

"Meaning, Sir?" Stanley asked.

"If the earthquake machine were to be set off somewhere without any tectonic plates around for hundreds or thousands of miles, then it would create a brand new tectonic plate," the driver explained. "It would cause massive chaos."

"That is very bad…" Stanley murmured.

Suddenly, the front of the vehicle began smoking, causing the driver to groan with annoyance. "Oh, this miserable excuse for a machine!" he growled, slapping his hands on the steering wheel, and quickly pulling over to the side.

Climbing out of the cabin, Stanley called out after him, "I know you can fix it, Sir!"

The driver smiled through the window and hurried over towards the front of the armored truck, popping up the hood. Strangely, the speedometer and odometer of the vehicle began spinning very rapidly back and forth, making Stanley stare at it in complete confusion. "What in the world…?"

"AHHHH!" the driver shouted.

"Nelson!" Stanley called out after him. Before he could climb out to see what was wrong, Nelson shut the hood and climbed back into his seat. "Oh, thank goodness you're alright," he sighed with relief. "But you know, the strangest darn thing happened a few seconds ago. You see, the—" He broke off as Nelson turned his head towards him, a strange pulsating insignia where his irises and pupils should be. "What the—?!"

Before he could finish his sentence, a strange black cloud erupted from the driver's back and zoomed straight into Stanley. The passenger looked back up after a moment, the same sign pulsating in his eyes. Nelson started the car back up, made a sharp U-turn, and began heading for Paris, France.

* * *

Jeremy breathed in heavily, taking in the freshness of the air surrounding Kadic Academy. Today was the day back from Christmas vacation! He had had a wonderful time with his family, staying at home and sleeping in, he had almost entirely forgotten about XANA. Every morning, he'd wake up and quickly check on Lyoko to see what was going on, but the peculiar thing about it was that there had been nothing at all. It was like XANA was planning something; something big.

Taking his first step through the gate once more, he looked around him. It was the end of February—or getting close to it. The snow was all melted, the trees were beginning to bud slightly, and the sunlight was flowing down through the clouds, bathing the yard in oranges and yellows.

Surprisingly, over the three month period, Jeremy had grown about two inches. He had kept his hair neat and orderly, the same way it had been three months prior. The group would sure be surprised to see him! But as he thought about it more, _he_ would be the one to be surprised to see everyone else—if they had changed at all.

"Hey, Jeremy!" Milly called from in front of the dorm building, waving next to Tamiya. "You look well!"

"You too, Milly," he said with a smile. "Nice seeing you again!" Slightly humming to himself, he walked through the door and began his ascent to his dorm room that he had left in perfectly neat condition since he left. Once his bags were taken care of, he would check up on Ulrich and Odd, and then Aelita. The thought of the pink-haired angel brought a bright red to his cheeks. He shook his head, the brightness disappearing. He had gotten good at hiding that emotion…somewhat.

Finally reaching his door, he dropped his bags in front of it and dug in his pocket for his room key. "Now where did I put that?" he wondered, digging through his other pocket. "I know I put it…ah!" He pulled out his hand, the key secured tightly between his two fingers. "There we go." With a smile, he stuck the key in the lock and opened the door. Cleanliness greeted him. Everything was just the way he left it; books stacked neatly on the shelf, his bed perfectly made, and everything was clean—well, except for the new dust that settled over the break. He made a mental note to clean it up later. Picking up his bags, he entered the room and set the bags up on his bed with a sigh. "Why do clothes have to be so heavy?" he wondered to himself.

"Hey, Jer!"

Jeremy turned to see Ulrich and Odd standing in his doorway, huge smiles on their faces. "Hey!" he greeted.

"It's been a while," Ulrich responded, shaking his hand. "Good to see you again."

Odd jumped forward as soon as Ulrich let go and hugged Jeremy around the neck, almost making the genius fall over. "Good to have you back, Einstein!" he laughed.

"You can let go now," he chuckled, Odd letting him breathe once more. Finally getting a nice look at the two, he noticed that Ulrich grew an inch. His hair was slightly a bit longer than it was before. Taking a glimpse at Odd, he realized that he hadn't changed at all. Everything was exactly the same about him.

Odd noticed his stare and waved his hand at him. "Yeah, yeah. I haven't changed. So what?" he said. "Being unique is my special quality!"

"Yeah, with that purple in your hair, being unique is all you _can_ do," Ulrich remarked, causing Jeremy to laugh.

"Hey! My purple fluff is all I need!" he remarked in defense. "That, and Kiwi."

"Your purple fluff?" Jeremy laughed.

"…Never _mind!"_ Odd groaned. "Can we go eat lunch now? I'm starving!"

As Odd hurried away from the two, Ulrich turned his head and added, "You're _always_ starving!"

"Exactly!" he called back.

A few seconds passed before the reunion was interrupted. "So has XANA been quiet?" Ulrich asked.

Jeremy scratched the back of his head. "Uh…yeah, actually." He turned to his bag and took out his laptop, quickly opening it and sitting down on his bed. Ulrich sat down next to him. "All's been quiet," he added, pointing to the screen, which showed the map of Lyoko. "Nothing."

"He must be planning something," Ulrich grumbled.

"That's what I thought," Jeremy replied. "It has to be something huge for him to take a three month break from attacking when he could've had the upper hand while we were away."

"Yeah, but even _if_ he attacked while we were away, Yumi and Aelita would still be within range to battle him off," Ulrich said.

"True…" Jeremy nodded, hand on his chin. "Speaking of them, where are they?"

Ulrich shrugged. "I haven't seen them yet," he answered. "They must still be getting ready."

"Day students arriving late?" Jeremy chuckled to himself. "That's highly unlikely."

"Well, whatever. It's just a day off anyway. Tomorrow's when we actually go back to school," Ulrich responded. "Anyway, I'm going to catch up with Odd. See you later?"

"Sure," Jeremy said, smiling.

With a wave, Ulrich began out the door and down after Odd to the cafeteria. Jeremy continued humming to himself as he unpacked his clothes and belongings back into their respectful drawers.

* * *

"Yumi! Aelita! Time to go, girls!" Yumi's mother called from down the stairs.

"We're going, we're going!" Yumi called back, hurrying down the stairs, carrying some of Aelita's bags. "Come on, Aelita!"

The pinkette hurried down after Yumi, a huge smile on her face. Today was the day she was going to see Jeremy again! Not only that, but the day she'd be back in her own room. She liked hanging out with Yumi, but she was right about her brother. He was sure annoying.

"Be back later for dinner, dear," Yumi's mother told her daughter. "Help Aelita unpack and hang out with those friends of yours until then."

"Yes, mother!" Yumi replied, opening the door. "Ready to go, Aelita?"

"As I'll ever be," she giggled, bags in tow.

"Are you girls sure you don't want a ride?" Yumi's mother asked again, uncertain.

"We're sure, mom. These bags aren't that heavy," Yumi answered. It was true; the bags weren't really that heavy. All Aelita had brought with her were a few pairs of clothes, her laptop, and a few other necessary things. She hadn't really found the need to bring everything she owned—which wasn't much anyway.

"Okay, then. See you later!" her mother called after them as they began out the door. "It was nice meeting you again, Aelita, dear!"

"You too, Mrs. Ishiyama!" she said.

Once they were out of earshot, Yumi turned to Aelita. "So, you ready to see Jeremy again?" she asked, a smirk on her face.

Her cheeks turned red. "Well, of course. As are you for Ulrich."

This time, Yumi's cheeks turned bright red. "No, we are _not_ discussing this," she scoffed. "I've said it a thousand times, and I'll say it again. We're _just_ good friends! That's all."

"Alright, whatever you say," Aelita giggled.

With a playful growl, Yumi gently pushed Aelita's shoulder, causing the two to bubble with laughter. "I just hope everyone will like my hair," she murmured, playing with her shoulder-length hair.

"Don't worry about it, Yumi," Aelita soothed. "I'm sure they'll like it."

Soon enough, they reached the gates of Kadic Academy, which were wide open to greet the returning students. "It looks the same," Yumi remarked.

"Of course it does," Aelita giggled. "It's a building. The only thing that'll ever change is the grass length."

"Oh, Aelita, you're such a laugh!" Yumi laughed. "The grass length! That's a good one." Reaching the dorm building, Yumi opened the door and held it open for the pinkette, her arm inside the doorway. "After you, Princess."

"Oh, you still remember that, huh?" she giggled, walking inside.

"Yeah, sure I do! Ever since Odd started calling you that on Lyoko, it's stuck," Yumi replied.

"What's stuck?"

Yumi and Aelita turned their heads around to see Ulrich coming down from the stairs. Both the brunette and Yumi stared at each other for a while, before Yumi dropped her bags and ran at Ulrich, arms wide open. As soon as the hug embraced him, Ulrich was completely confused—bright red, too. "It's good to see you again, Ulrich," Yumi sighed, pulling away.

"Uh…y-yeah. Right! Yeah." He cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head. "Anyway, Jeremy just got here a few minutes ago. He's up in his room unpacking. I was just about to go meet Odd in the cafeteria, want to come?"

Yumi turned to Aelita with an arched eyebrow. She waved her hand at her friend. "Go ahead, Yumi. I can take care of my things by myself, no problem."

"Okay, Aelita. Thanks." She smiled at the pinkette, and then turned back to Ulrich. "Let's go."

He nodded, took a step, and then did a double-take at her. "Wait a minute. Something's different…"

"As with you," Yumi acknowledged.

After a few moments of staring each other down, they snapped their fingers at the same time and said in sync, "Hair!" Laughing with each other, they made their way out and towards the mess hall.

Aelita watched them go with an amused look on her face. "Oh, those two lovebirds…" she giggled, picking up her other bags that Yumi had been carrying and starting up the stairs to the top floor, which held the girl's dorms. Digging her key out of her pocket, she stuck it into the door…

"Oh, why hello, Aelita," a snide voice perked up from behind her.

Instantly, Aelita groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes. "Hello, Sissi…" she sighed, turning around to face her. Sissi's hair was more defined, longer, and now had blonde streaks running through it. She wore even more stylish clothing, her hand on her hip with an air of sass.

"It's been a while," Sissi remarked, moving a strand of hair out of her face. "How was your vacation?"

For a moment, Aelita wondered why the principal's daughter was being so nice, but she just continued to answer the ebony-haired girl. "It was nice. Yumi's brother was very annoying. All the fun stuff."

"Great! Me and Daddy went to the United States to the very tip of the state called Florida," she began. "We went swimming, and I met lots of boys, and some of them…" She laughed, beginning to imitate a cat. "Rawr…!"

Aelita just arched an eyebrow. No wonder she was being so nice to her; she was just there to brag. It was because of this that Aelita picked up her bags once more and began into her room. "Well, I have to get unpacked now. It was nice to hear about your vacation!"

"Oh, but—!"

The pinkette closed the door on Sissi, leaning against it with a silent, heavy breath of relief. Even _if_ that girl was nice, she was just Ms. Brag the whole entire time. After Aelita heard the sound of footsteps retreating, she began work on unpacking her things.

* * *

"Where did this go again…?" Jeremy murmured to himself, holding up his notebook and strumming his fingers on his chin. Suddenly, a faint beeping noise alerted him, and he gasped. "Oh, no!" With a quick motion, he jolted towards his laptop and opened the lid, seeing that XANA had activated a tower. He made a mental note of where the tower was in coordinates, and then dialed Ulrich's number.

* * *

"And I said…tomatoes are _fruits,_ not _vegetables!"_ Odd laughed, causing his other two companions to chuckle a little.

Ulrich's phone vibrated in his pocket, and he made a quick grab for it—something he had gotten used to over the years. "Yeah, Jer?" he asked.

"XANA's activated a tower," he replied, staring at the screen. "Tell the others to get to the…" He broke off as the beeping stopped, and the tower disappeared off the screen. "Well, _that's_ a little strange."

"What? What happened?"

"XANA just deactivated the tower," Jeremy murmured, scratching his head. "He couldn't have attacked us in that short amount of time. He'd need to stay in one tower for a while to do that."

"He's definitely planning something then," Ulrich remarked. "We'll meet up in your room. Call Aelita and let her know."

"Good idea." As he hung up Ulrich's call, he quickly dialed Aelita's number. A few moments passed before she answered.

"Hello?"

Jeremy froze for a moment. The whole vacation, he hadn't even dialed her number _once_ when he could have a thousand times—no, a _million_ times. The shock of hearing her voice again got to him.

"Jeremy?" she called again.

"U-um… Hi, Aelita."

"Hello," she giggled. "What's up?"

"Well, XANA activated a tower, and then quickly deactivated it," he replied, typing away at his keyboard. "He's up to something big. The others are meeting in my room. Get over here quick."

"It's always XANA, isn't it," she sighed. "Never get a long enough break…"

As she hung up the phone, a sudden jolt in his room caused Jeremy to shout in surprise. "What in the world…?!" he exclaimed, looking around. All the things that he had put away so nicely before had now been moved slightly out of place. "Aw, come on…"

Suddenly, another jolt this time, but it was bigger…and longer. "What the—an _earthquake?!"_

* * *

"Whoa!" Odd exclaimed as the ground vibrated slightly under his feet. "Did you guys feel that?"

"Feel what, Odd?" Yumi asked.

"There was a weird vibration," he remarked, stomping on the ground.

"Maybe it was just your stomach," Ulrich joked.

"Running through the whole ground? I don't think so," Odd said.

Suddenly, the vibration happened again, but it was larger and more solid, causing the three to nearly tumble over onto each other. "It's an earthquake!" Ulrich exclaimed. "We have to get to cover!"

Shouts of surprise could be heard throughout the campus as the returning students began to panic at the sudden shift.

"Quickly, students! Down here!" Jim called, motioning for everyone to follow him into the cellar. Without hesitation, they all followed.

* * *

While his room shifted wildly, Jeremy's laptop began to beep rapidly once more. He opened it up as best as he could and frowned at the screen. "I _knew _it!" he grumbled. Thinking once more, he blinked to himself. "Wait, how is he causing the earthquake when we're at least 5,000 miles away from any tectonic plates?" Typing—or, _trying_ to—on his laptop, he tried to figure out the puzzle that XANA had laid out for him to solve. "It has to be coming from _somewhere!"_ As the computer screen followed XANA's recent activity in the city, it all led back to one place.

"XANA's trying to make a new tectonic plate!" he shouted. "Right through our city…converging to…" The picture zoomed in right on the layout of the factory and the school. "Oh, this is bad!" He frowned. "But wait, _how…?"_ He quickly searched through the files of the news programs and snapped his fingers. "Tesla's earthquake machine. I knew it."

**~Code Lyoko~**

Jeremy quickly opened his door, and looked out while everything continued to shift and tremble.

"Ah!" Aelita screamed, falling on her face.

"Aelita!" Jeremy exclaimed, running over to her and helping her to her feet. "XANA's attacking. We have to get to the factory fast!"

"He's causing the earthquake?" she asked as they began their way down the stairs.

"XANA's making a new tectonic plate," Jeremy explained. "It's going to cut right through our school and the factory."

"How long before the crack reaches the factory?" she wondered.

"Well, it's not really a crack per se, but let's just say once the earthquake reaches its peak, both the school and the factory will go bye-bye," Jeremy said plainly.

With wide eyes, Aelita hurried as fast as her feet and the wobbly ground would let her, Jeremy following closely after. "Where are the others?" she exclaimed above the noise.

"I don't know. I hope they made it to the factory," Jeremy called back as they ran outside and towards the factory.

* * *

"We have to get to the factory. This _has_ to be XANA's doing!" Odd said quiet enough that no one would hear—which was very unlikely with all the screaming.

"There's no way we're going to get out of Jim's sight," Ulrich hissed. "There's only one exit, and that's the one he's guarding!"

Yumi sighed. "I hope Aelita can pull this off on her own!"

"Hold on now, don't give up yet," Ulrich interrupted her. "We've got to do everything we can to get out of here. One of us has to stay behind and draw attention. Who stays?"

"I'll stay," Yumi said. "You two are better at protecting Aelita. Go. I'll create a distraction."

With a quick nod, Odd and Ulrich slipped away through the crowd of students while Yumi looked around for something to use as a distraction. She smiled with glee as her eyes caught upon a piece of the roof that fell down from the ceiling. With a heavy grunt, she began to haul the heavy concrete up onto her leg. "Ouch!" she grunted. "I hope this works…!" As the concrete was secured tightly up onto her leg, making it very uncomfortable in the position she was in, she began banging on the side of the wall to make it sound like it had just fallen. "AHHH! HELP ME!" she screamed, tugging at her leg.

"Ishiyama? What's the matter?" Jim called, heading over to her.

Ulrich turned to Odd. "That's our cue. Let's go!" Odd acknowledged, hurrying out the cellar door with Ulrich close behind.

"I hope her leg's gonna be okay…" Ulrich murmured with a glance back in the cellar's direction.

"Of course it will. Even if it breaks, a return trip to the past will fix that!" Odd said cheerfully, and then blinked. "That…didn't come out right, did it?"

Ulrich just face-palmed himself.

* * *

The elevator doors opened, revealing an empty computer room. Jeremy and Aelita hurried inside, the earthquake settling down a bit long enough to regain their balance. "Looks like they're not here," he remarked. "I'll give them a call. You head to the scanners."

"Right!" Like a flash, she made her way back to the elevator and down to the scanner room.

The dial tone for Yumi's number rang and rang, but she didn't pick up. "Come on… Where _are_ you?" With another attempt, Jeremy began dialing for Odd.

Skating through the sewers, Odd's phone began to ring. He quickly picked it up. "Yeah, Jer. We're on our way."

"About time!" Jeremy sighed with relief. "Once you get here, head to the scanners immediately."

"Okay. Yumi had to stay behind to give us cover," he continued, hopping over a gap in the path. "We'll be there soon."

Hanging up, Jeremy sighed, leaning back in his chair. Soon, the earthquake settled down completely, giving Jeremy an uneasy feeling. "Earthquakes come with after-shocks…" he reminded himself. "This one should be the fall of us." Typing on his computer, he grabbed his earpiece with one hand. "Aelita, we have to deactivate the tower before this after-shock," he said.

"Loud and clear, Jeremy," Aelita replied, stepping into the scanner.

"Okay! Transfer, Aelita… Virtualization!"

Loaded into the environment, Aelita dropped down to the ground and looked out over her surroundings. "Jeremy? Did you purposefully send me here?"

A red exclamation point displayed on his screen, and he growled to himself. "Oh, no!" he murmured with fear. "Aelita, where did you land?"

"I'm in Sector Five," she said as the room continued to spin. "Why, what's going on?"

"We're in the scanner room, Jeremy," Ulrich said, Jeremy hearing it in his earpiece. "Hurry, guys. Something bugged up Aelita's materialization, and now she's stuck in Sector Five. I can't devirtualize her." Typing once more, he added, "I'm sure you guys are gonna land where I plan, but we can't be too sure."

"Wow, Einstein. Way to give us confidence," Odd scoffed, stepping into the scanner.

"Hey, at least he said something," Ulrich called after Odd as the doors closed on both of them.

Moments later, they began to virtualize in the air, landing down with soft grunts on hard soil. "Jeremy, we're in the forest sector," Ulrich explained. "This is where the tower is right?"

"Yes, it is. But the problem is, how are we going to get Aelita to the tower?" Jeremy asked.

Ulrich and Odd looked at each other in confusion, and Odd shrugged.

A beeping noise alerted Jeremy and he eyed the screen. "Now hang on a minute!" he muttered. "XANA's deactivated that tower."

"What? Why?" Odd asked.

"I'm sure he's going to the next one to create the after-shock," Jeremy answered. "Let's hope you guys get it in time!"

"Where's the tower at?"

Jeremy watched the screen for a few moments, before scratching the back of his head and replying, "He hasn't activated one yet."

"Well, then why—?"

"Hold on!" Jeremy exclaimed, typing on his keyboard. "He activated the tower in Sector Five. Aelita! The tower was just activated in Sector Five! Hurry!"

Aelita nodded as the door opened. "On my way!" Running towards the door and down the stairway, she emerged into a large room with platforms all over and no floor in sight. "Jeremy, there are platforms, but that's all! No tower!"

"Sit tight, Aelita. I'm sending Odd and Ulrich the limo," he said, summoning up the Carthage ball.

Ulrich and Odd turned just in time to see the ball charging at them. "Just like old times, huh, Ulrich?" Odd chuckled as the ball enveloped them, carrying them to Sector Five where it landed in the lobby. Emerging from the ball, Odd shook his head. _"Still_ makes me sick!"

"This spinning room makes _me_ sick…" Ulrich added with a look around.

* * *

"Come on, you stupid piece of junk!" Jim grunted, trying to move the piece of concrete. For a moment, Yumi laughed to herself. She picked up the slab all by herself, but now that it was lodged on top of her leg, Jim—who should be stronger than her—couldn't lift it.

"Need some help with that, Jim?"

Yumi turned her head to see William standing behind the gym teacher with his arms crossed and his brows arched. With a glare of annoyance, Yumi turned her head away.

"That would be great!" Jim grunted, still trying to heave the thing.

William walked forward and pushed the slab along with Jim, and the piece of concrete slid off with ease. "Whoo! Thanks, William! Without an extra little boost, that wouldn't have _ever_ come off!"

"Sure, Jim. It was all you," he chuckled, turning to Yumi. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said quickly.

"Do you need some help?" he asked.

Yumi glanced in his direction, but quickly turned back around. "No, I'm fine."

"I like your hair, Yumi. It's really pretty," he remarked with a sincere smile on his face.

A hotness ran into her cheeks and she cursed herself silently for it. "Thanks, William."

"Anytime," he chuckled. After a split second, William seated himself next to her. "So how was your vacation?"

"It was good. Having Aelita over was a blast," she said, turning her head slightly towards William.

"That's good," William said.

"Are we safe now?" Emily asked from the other side of the room.

Jim turned to her. "For now, yes, but not later. Every earthquake has an after-shock or two. I know this from my experience as a Geiger specialist in the Keys, but, uh…I'd rather not talk about it."

Suddenly, the ground began trembling once more, causing more panic among the students. "Please, calm down! Remain calm!" Jim shouted. Without warning, a piece of rubble fell from the ceiling and onto Jim, knocking him out cold.

"AHHHH!" Sissi screamed, pointing at Jim.

William quickly sprang into action, ripping the concrete off of Jim's back and dragging him to the corner of the room where he would be safer. "Okay, listen up!" No one heard him. "I said _listen up!"_ William shouted, causing the kids to stop screaming—if only for a bit—even while the after-shock continued to gradually escalate. "Everyone into a corner! We'll be safer there than stuck in the middle of a room where the ceiling can fall on you." He pointed to Jim as an example. "If you have to, huddle up close to one another, no matter if you hate or love the person next to you."

The students quickly obeyed him, huddling closely together in each corner of the room. Sissi was the first to cram into a corner, followed closely by Herve and Nicholas. "Get off me, you freaks!" she hissed, slapping them.

"But William said we have to stay close, no matter what," Herve answered.

Sissi harrumphed to herself and crossed her arms—as best she could.

William sat next to Yumi as the quake got stronger. "Are they handling it?" he asked, catching Yumi off guard.

"Wha—who?" she stammered.

"Ulrich and the others," William said. "Are they stopping it?"

Yumi looked away as the trembling got stronger. "Hopefully…"

* * *

"Jeremy! The door's almost open," Odd exclaimed to the genius.

"Excellent," Jeremy said, typing at the keyboard. "Get to Aelita as fast as you can as soon as that door opens. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Right!" Ulrich exclaimed. Soon, the spinning in the room stopped and the door opened. Odd and Ulrich hurried forward running down the corridor. It took them about a few seconds before they reached the next room, but it wasn't as Aelita had described. It was just a plain room with no platforms or anything—four corners and that was all. "Uh…Jeremy?"

Suddenly, the door closed behind them. Ulrich gasped and ran at where the door once was. "No!" he exclaimed.

"What's going on, Ulrich?" Jeremy panicked.

"We're trapped! XANA trapped us!" Ulrich growled, slicing at the wall with his sabers.

"Great, _just_ great!" Jeremy scoffed with a laugh. _"Anything else?!"_ A big red dot slowly began making its way over to Aelita, and he groaned. "I am just _not_ lucky at all today…! Aelita! Watch out! The Scyphozoa is right behind you!"

Aelita whipped around every which way, but there was no monster in sight. "Jeremy, I don't see anything!"

"It's right up behind you now! Aelita, you _have _to move!" Jeremy shouted, panicking. A vibration snapped him out of staring at the screen and he picked it up. "Not a good time, Yumi!"

"The tremors are back," she said. "I have a feeling you're just about to feel them."

Suddenly, the room began shaking enormously, almost causing Jeremy to fall out of his perch. "Ah! Okay, I got ya. Tremors—right." Hanging up, he continued talking to Aelita. "Aelita, run!"

"But there's no—"

_"RUN!"_

Suddenly, the monster materialized right in front of her eyes, causing Aelita to scream.

In the isolation room, Aelita's scream had pierced the thick walls, making Ulrich whip around towards the sound. He hurried over to the wall opposite where the door had been and pounded on the wall. "AELITA!" he shouted.

"Ulrich, it's no use. We can't get out of here," Odd sighed.

Ulrich whipped around. "What's made you so desperate for defeat, huh, Odd?" he hissed, pointing his saber at his friend's chest. "Aelita's over there alone, and she's our only hope of stopping XANA from creating a huge fissure through us, okay?!"

Odd flinched back and looked away. "Sorry…"

"Yeah, now shut up and help me," he chuckled, causing Odd to crack a smile. "YAH!" Ulrich shouted, slicing at the wall while Odd fired his arrows.

* * *

Aelita hopped quickly from platform to platform, the Scyphozoa hard on her heels. "Jeremy, I don't think I can outrun it! There's not enough platforms!" she exclaimed.

"Hurry, Aelita. You can do it! I've got a little trick up my sleeve…" Jeremy said, typing away on his keyboard. A picture of Ulrich's sabers popped up on screen as he continued to type.

Continuing to hop around on platforms, Aelita screamed, reaching the end of her line, wobbling on the edge of falling off into the emptiness below. She turned around to face the creature—the Scyphozoa. Oh, how she _hated_ this thing. Quickly forming an energy ball in her hands, she fired it at the monster, but of course—like always—it missed as the Scyphozoa weaved around the projectile, bringing up its tentacles to attach them to Aelita. "Jeremy!" she screeched.

"Almost there!" he growled through gritted teeth. A green plus sign popped up over the program he was modifying, and he grabbed his earpiece. "Ulrich! Quickly, charge your sabers!"

"What?" he asked.

"Just do it!" he screamed.

"O-okay…" Holding his sabers out straight up at his sides, they suddenly began to glow a bright green color. He smirked and began laughing. "Oh, this is cool!" Without another thought, Ulrich whipped the swords down, sending an energy blade flying through the air, and slicing straight through the wall, crumbling it enough for them to fit through. Ulrich turned to Odd. "Come on!" he exclaimed.

By the time they hopped through the wall, Aelita was just being picked up in the Scyphozoa's tentacles. "Let's hope I'm as good a shot as you, Odd!" he joked, charging up his sabers once more and whipping them for the tentacles. The energy blades ripped through the air, slicing through the Scyphozoa's tentacles that it was just about to place on Aelita's head. It screeched in pain, quickly dropping the pinkette to the ground and disappearing into thin air.

"Where'd it go?" Odd asked, looking around, his arm out as if expecting another monster to pop out of nowhere.

"It's gone from my screen. Hurry, get over to Aelita!" Jeremy ordered, gripping his chair with all his strength. "We don't have much time!"

"Aelita!" Odd called, hopping over to her, followed closely by Ulrich.

Aelita slowly lifted her head as they approached. "What happened?" she asked groggily.

Helping her to her feet, Ulrich shook his head. "No time to explain. Come on!"

"But there's no exit!" Aelita cried.

"Ulrich, go straight to your left. There's a hidden corridor there that leads directly to the tower," Jeremy ordered.

"And how do you expect us to get through?" Aelita asked, hands on her hips as Ulrich hopped off.

Odd turned to her, and patted her shoulder. "Watch and learn, Princess," he said, winking and hurrying after his friend, the pinkette close behind.

Charging up his sabers once more, Ulrich sliced through the wall that Jeremy had directed him to. Sure enough, after the rubble cleared, he was right—there was a corridor hidden there. "Come on!" Ulrich ordered with a wave of his hand.

* * *

The ceiling continued to give way at the refuge, kids shouting as light and dust poured in through the holes. "Remain calm!" William shouted above them. "Help is on the way, don't worry!"

Despite her semi-hatred for William, Yumi clung to him in fear, her eyes shut tightly. William turned his head to her with surprise, but returned the hold. "We're gonna make it," he assured her. "Don't worry, Yumi."

"That's the problem," she whispered. "I'm _always_ worried."

* * *

The ceiling began to crumble, a large piece of it falling just behind him. "Ah!" Jeremy exclaimed, jumping in his seat and looking at the ceiling piece. "Guys, hurry! The ceiling's about to collapse!"

"We're going as fast as we can, Jeremy!" Odd told him. "This tunnel thing is _long!"_

"Please hurry…" Jeremy whispered to himself, head down as the ceiling began falling around him.

After a few more seconds, Aelita gasped and pointed ahead. "I see the tower!" she exclaimed.

Seeing it as well, Odd and Ulrich—if possible—began to pick up speed, determination on their faces.

The line connecting the supercomputer to the ceiling began to move, cracking along the seams and threatening to fall to the ground. Jeremy turned his gaze to the sudden movement and his eyes widened. "Guys, if the supercomputer gets disconnected from the mainframe, you will be stuck in there forever!"

"Way to give us confidence," Ulrich muttered.

"You stole my line!" Odd complained.

"Oh, deal with it," he scoffed. Soon they arrived in the room. It was circular—the same as the room Ulrich and Odd were trapped in, except it wasn't a square. "You're up, Princess," Ulrich said, nodding to Aelita as they came to a halt.

Aelita nodded back to him and hurried into the tower, phasing through the wall, and running up to the middle of the platform, a halo enveloping her.

* * *

The middle of the ceiling began to collapse, and Yumi couldn't help but scream. William tried his best to comfort his friend, but it was no use. As he looked up at the collapsing ceiling, he had a slight thought of doubt that Jeremy and the others weren't going to make it in time before the whole room collapsed on them.

* * *

Jeremy bit his fingernails as he anxiously watched the supercomputer line slowly begin to disconnect from the mainframe through the ceiling. "Come on…!" he murmured.

* * *

Yumi looked up at the ceiling just as a large piece of concrete began to fall. William looked up as well, and seeing the look of determination on Yumi's face, he knew what she was about to do. "YUMI, WAIT!" he shouted. But it was too late. Yumi had already pushed him out of the way as the concrete slab pinned her to the floor. "YUMI!"

* * *

Aelita stepped up onto the top platform and began walking towards the middle where the interface popped up. She placed her hand on the panel, and—as always—it read her DNA and her name. Without a hesitation, she typed in the code. "Tower deactivated," she confirmed.

* * *

"Quickly, Jeremy. Return to the past! Yumi's in danger!" Ulrich shouted.

Jeremy quickly obliged, typing as best as he could on the freely swinging computer. Without a second thought, he pressed the enter key. "Return to the past _now!"_ he shouted, the bubble enveloping the world

**~Code Lyoko~**

Aelita scuffed the ground with her feet outside of Jeremy's door, her hands behind her back in her habit of nerves. She was a little nervous for seeing Jeremy again, even though she had just saw him—but it wasn't the same. They hadn't even had time to talk at all, it was just 'XANA's attacking; get to Lyoko'. That's not really a conversation, now is it?

Fist raised in front of the door, she took a deep breath and began to knock. Before she could even hit her knuckles against the wooden door, Jeremy appeared where the door used to be. "H-how did you know I was going to be here?" she asked him, dropping her arm to her side.

"I had a feeling," he admitted with a shrug. "But anyway, how have you been? Never got a chance to ask, ya know?"

She nodded. "It's been good. Just got done unpacking," she added with a point of her thumb. A couple giggles inside Jeremy's room alerted Aelita, and she tried to look past him. "What's going on in there?"

Jeremy followed her every direction with his own body. "Nothing. Nothing at all!"

"Jeremy…" Aelita said slowly, pinching the bridge of her nose—a habit she had grown used to over the past three months when dealing with Yumi's annoying little brother. "Please tell me who's in there."

Jeremy looked to the ceiling and tapped on his chin. "Hmmm… Nah."

Aelita furrowed her brow, a look of annoyance flying over her features as she crossed her arms.

"I'll let you find out yourself!" he said with a smile, opening the door the rest of the way, revealing Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich standing in the middle of the room, holding a huge cake in their arms.

"Surprise!" everyone but Aelita shouted.

Aelita brought her hands to her heart, a look of complete astonishment on her face. "Oh, you guys!" she giggled, tears in her eyes. "But what is this for?"

"It's a return to the past party," Yumi advised her with a little giggle. "For all of us who're immune."

"That, and it's also for defeating XANA today," Jeremy put in, his finger in the air. "We couldn't have done it without you—literally."

"You either, genius," Aelita giggled, playfully punching Jeremy's shoulder as she walked into the middle of the room.

The trio set the cake aside and embraced each other. "Join in, Jer!" Odd exclaimed with a wave of his hand.

Jeremy put up his hand. "I don't do hugs," he said.

"Oh, come on, you!" Ulrich leaned out from the group hug and grasped Jeremy, dragging him into the middle of the hug with Aelita. Both of them turned their heads towards each other, heat rising to their cheeks as they looked away. Jeremy began whistling absentmindedly, causing the group to laugh at his ability to hide his feelings.

Little did they know that while they were celebrating, a strange symbol colored white popped up on Jeremy's laptop screen on his desk, and then disappeared as soon as it came.

* * *

**NEXT TIME ON CODE LYOKO: RELOADED...**

"Oh-ho! So you wanna play, XANA? Well, COME ON!"

"And _why_ did we have to come to this nuclear plant?"

"WARNING! WARNING! SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED!"

* * *

**A/N:** The next episode, Meltdown, will air next Wednesday at 7 PM eastern standard time. Please leave reviews! They give me love :)


	3. Meltdown

**A/N:** And right on schedule...kinda :)

* * *

_**Episode 3: Meltdown**_

"Today, class, we are studying the schematics of this nuclear power plant," Mrs. Hertz began, motioning her hand up at the nuclear power plant they were visiting. "We're going to see how it works, and what's made from this plant."

Odd leaned over and whispered in Ulrich's ear. "Didn't we learn this already?" Ulrich just looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"Odd!" Mrs. Hertz scolded, snapping Odd out of his trance and to attention.

"Sir, yes—er, I mean, yes, ma'am!" Odd shouted, causing the group of students to stir with laughter.

"If you have something to say to the class, be my guest," she said, arms crossed.

Odd just shook his head. "Uh, no, ma'am."

Mrs. Hertz nodded her head, and turned around. "As I was saying, this building is one of the many in our fine area, as our city needs a lot of power," she continued.

"I just hope XANA doesn't try anything today," Jeremy whispered as they headed inside. "I mean, we're vulnerable enough as it is right now."

"I think we need to find out exactly how he survived and why my father sacrificed himself for nothing," Aelita grumbled with a frown.

Jeremy turned to her, a sincere look on his face. "Your father didn't sacrifice himself for nothing, Aelita."

"Well, then what are you supposed to call it?!" she whisper-hissed.

After a moment, he sighed to himself. "I'll try my hardest to find him, I promise you."

She gave him a look that said, 'you better' as they entered the doors of the building.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the core reactor of the nuclear power plant, several workers were monitoring the nuclear core's power systems, heating coolants, plus dozens of other mechanisms. One woman in particular typed at her desk in the dimly lit room as she stared at her computer screen. "Everything seems alright today," she confirmed, looking up to her supervisor as he walked behind his employees.

"You better be more sure than 'seeming', Paskez," her supervisor stated, hands behind his back as he eyed the core. "We have a group of students entering our facility today. You know what will happen if we go into lockdown."

"Yes, Sir, I understand," Paskez said with a nod.

A male voice piped up from a few seats behind her. "Sir, we have an unknown anomaly entering the main power grid."

The supervisor hurried over to the man's computer and stared at the screen intently. "What in the world…is _that?"_ he whispered as XANA's eye blinked on the screen.

"I'm not sure, Sir. From what I can tell, it's a computer virus."

"What in the hell is a computer virus attacking a _nuclear_ power plant for?" the supervisor asked.

"I'm not sure," the man said again.

A moment or two passed as the symbol disappeared, and the supervisor stood up straight, looking around the room. "Monitor the firewall. I don't want this virus to attack our sensitive information."

"Sir!" all his employees in the room exclaimed at once.

The supervisor turned back to the core, eyes narrowed. "Just what are you planning, Mr. Virus…?" he asked himself.

* * *

"Alright, children. I want you all to get into groups of four and stick with them as you explore the areas the plant has to offer," Mrs. Hertz ordered, her finger out at everyone. "We will meet back here in this spot in exactly an hour. And remember…don't go anywhere off limits!" She turned to Odd and gave him a look that said she was talking about him.

Odd just shrugged. "Not like I'm going to go somewhere where they store the uranium…" he mumbled grumpily.

"You're prone to doing that sort of thing," Aelita informed him.

"Like I'd want radioactive-ness!" he snorted. "Anyway, I guess we found our group, right?"

Ulrich nodded. "Yup." Then he turned his head as Sissi and her small group went up to them. "Oh, great…" he muttered.

Sissi flicked her hand in his face. "Don't worry, Ulrich dear, I don't want to be in a silly group with you."

Ulrich's eyes grew wide and he coughed into his hand. "Wh-what did you just say?!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, don't act so surprised. Like you'd want me in your group anyway," she scoffed, flicking her hair out of her face. "Let's go, Herve; Nicholas." Like stray dogs, they followed after with snickers plain as day on their faces.

"Forget them, Ulrich," Aelita said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go! I want to see if they have a supercomputer around here," Jeremy said, beginning to wander off.

Ulrich grabbed his shoulder. "Not so fast, Einstein. Didn't you just hear Mrs. Hertz?"

"Hey, the genius in a nuclear power plant's gonna go nuts if said genius doesn't get his daily dosage of computer!" Odd laughed.

"Odd…" Jeremy threatened with a finger.

Still laughing, he held up his hands in defense. "Hey, I can joke, alright?"

"Anyway, I brought my laptop just in case you-know-who wants to have a party with us," Jeremy said as they headed off around the plant.

"Knowing XANA, I wouldn't expect anything else," Ulrich acknowledged.

"Which reminds me… Jeremy, did you find out anything about how he survived?" Aelita asked as they rounded a corner.

He tapped his chin. "Well, there was the first day he returned, when my laptop wouldn't function correctly. It was strange; I had charged it fully, and everything was working just fine when I checked on it before bed."

"Could he have survived through your laptop?" Aelita wondered.

"This is almost certainly what I was thinking," he replied. "It's the only explanation as to how he outran the multi-agent program."

After a moment of silence, Odd threw his hands behind his head and yawned. "Well…! Do you guys think they have food here?" he strained.

"All you think about, huh, Odd?" Ulrich chuckled.

"I'm sure they have a break room, but we're not heading there just yet," Jeremy told him. "I really want to check out the nuclear reactor."

"Um, isn't that off limits? You know…because of the radiation?" Odd asked.

"They have a protective screen, Odd," Aelita said.

"Yeah, even _I_ knew that," Ulrich laughed, pointing his thumb at his chest.

"Not everyone's as observing as you!" Odd scoffed.

Another moment or two passed before they came to a set of double doors with two guards positioned outside. As they neared, the guards all held out their hands in front of the doors. "We're sorry, children. You cannot enter here today."

"Why not?" Jeremy asked.

"If the guy says no, I'm listening," Odd said, turning away.

Ulrich grabbed the back of his shirt, catching his throat. "Ohhhh, no you don't!"

"Unless you have authorization, I'm afraid we can't let you through," the bigger guard explained.

"I thought tourists were allowed to look in these kinds of rooms before?" Jeremy pondered, eyebrow arched.

"There's been a problem with the, uh…screening," the smaller guard said, looking at the bigger guard for confirmation. "You can't go in without getting at least some amount of radiation."

"Shouldn't you fix that?" Ulrich asked.

"Hey, kid, I'd keep my nose out of it if I were you," the bigger guard said, thrusting his finger towards the brunette. "Scram! Before we call human resources!"

With a hefty sigh, all four kids turned away. Once out of earshot, Jeremy turned to the others. "A problem with the screening, my left shoe. There _can't_ be something wrong with the screening. If the screen were cracked or missing the radiation filter in some places, they'd have the whole building on lockdown because of the radiation leaks."

"Wouldn't the doors just keep it secluded in the room?" Aelita asked.

"No. They're not heavy-plated enough."

"So, what do you think is going on?" she asked.

Leaning up against the wall, the genius tapped at his chin once more. "There has to be something else going on, but I just can't think of what it is…"

"Could the uranium be missing?" Odd asked.

Jeremy turned to Odd, a dumbfounded look on his face. "If the uranium was missing, the building would explode within a half hour if they didn't have spare uranium on hand."

"What if they _don't_ have a spare?"

"Odd, what's with your random, stupid questions today?" Ulrich said, turning to his friend.

"Hey, I'm just trying to learn," he said in defense. "That's what we're here for anyway, right?"

"And speaking of learning, we should start," Jeremy said, beginning to wander off. "We _are_ here for a reason, you know."

"Not becoming radioactive, that's for sure," Odd chuckled.

"Oh, please don't tell me you believe in their lies…" Ulrich groaned, face-palming himself.

"I do and I don't. Fair enough, right?" he said.

* * *

"Sir, the virus keeps breaking through!" a male voice straggled out.

The supervisor slammed his hands on the table. "I don't _care_ if it keeps breaking through! What I _do_ care about is that we don't lose our info! We're a government-owned nuclear facility, for Christ's sake! Do you know what our information would do to the world if it were leaked?"

"Yes, Sir…" the man said quietly.

The supervisor began walking around the room, hands behind his back, quietly watching his employees as they all upped the firewall once more. "And besides," he added more quietly, "we have children in our building. If it steals info, they and the rest of _you_ will be locked down for three days because of it!" He stopped next to another man and leaned down. "And we don't _want_ that, do we, Mark?"

Mark shook his head. "No, Sir."

He patted his back with a smile. "Good man." Turning to the rest of his employees, he added, "Keep extra vigilant!"

"Sir!" they all shouted at once.

**~Code Lyoko~**

Odd leaned down, his face distorted through a test tube. "Whoa…" he breathed, going around and looking through more of them, laughing at his weird faces.

"This is where we make the chemicals in order to keep the reactor stable," a woman said, pointing her hand at the test tubes and other chemical equipment. "It is also where we test out new fuel formulas for cars and hybrids."

Jeremy looked out over the railing down below the floor and saw a huge room stretching around a football field in length with a large tub straight below filled with goopy black fuel. "That's amazing!" he remarked.

Aelita came up beside him. "Isn't it just?" she sighed, leaning over to look as well.

"With all the chemicals in here, you'd think that there wouldn't be any problems, huh?" he chuckled and she nodded. "So far, out of everywhere we've tried to go to in the past half hour, almost three quarters worth of that has led to dead ends."

"Yeah. It's strange how they forbid us to go in places that would normally be available to tourists," Aelita chimed in.

Ulrich and Odd came up to the two and leaned down over the railing, Ulrich leaning against it with his back. "But it's also strange how they're coming up with those weird excuses for it," Odd acknowledged.

"Yeah, 'problems with the screening', 'chemical spill', 'no tourists allowed', and my favorite—'the wiring is wacky.' You have to admit, those are some _pretty_ stupid excuses," Ulrich mused.

"There _must_ be something else going on that everyone but the employees aren't aware of," Jeremy added. "Something they don't see every day."

"Could it be…" Ulrich paused and looked around. "…XANA, maybe?" he finished.

"Impossible," Jeremy said bluntly. "Unless this was some top secret government base with weapons of mass destruction, then I don't think so."

A moment of silence passed between the four as they all just took in what Jeremy said, confusion plain on their faces.

"Um…isn't this the only government-owned nuclear facility in Paris?" Aelita asked quietly.

Jeremy blinked. "Oh, crap."

Suddenly, red light flooded the room followed by an annoying buzz of an alarm. The four teens covered their ears, blinking at one another. "What's happening?" Aelita shouted.

"I don't know!" shouted Jeremy.

"All right, kids! This is a fire drill, so I want you all to follow me out of the building so you can meet back up with your class!" the woman advised all students within the room. One by one, they all followed the worker out of the chemical room and down the hall, still covering their ears.

"Why would they schedule a fire drill at this time…?" Jeremy muttered to himself.

* * *

"It got through!" Paskez cried, the alarms blaring.

"Quick! Think of a new passcode to override the system!" the supervisor yelled angrily, hands on the desk.

"But, Sir! It's already past the info lock!" Mark shouted.

"Damn it!" the supervisor hissed to himself. "We're on lockdown until further notice, understood?" he added. "No outside contact until the CIA gets here!"

"Yes, Sir," they all said.

Turning towards the protective screen, he frowned. "What kind of virus _is_ this…?" he mumbled.

"Uh…Mr. Anderson, Sir?"

"What now, Phil?" Anderson growled, turning back around. It took him a moment to realize that all of the alarms were off. "What's going on now?"

"The virus just took down our defense grid…" Paskez said nervously.

"It did _WHAT?!"_ Anderson shouted, whipping towards her.

"The grid…Sir. The CIA won't be coming…"

"Well, _get it BACK!"_ he shouted.

"Yes, Mr. Anderson…"

* * *

Ulrich looked towards the alarm system on the wall, noticing as it turned off. He lowered his hands from his ears. "Um…what?"

"O…kay!" the woman laughed. "False alarm! Must be somethin' screwy with the wiring."

"Like we haven't heard _that_ one before..." Jeremy murmured to himself.

"Let's just go back to the chem. Room and do some more learnin'!" she said with a smile.

Hesitantly, each student followed suit. Aelita turned to Jeremy. "That was weird."

"Just another excuse," Jeremy acknowledged. "Something must be going on, and I bet XANA is behind it."

"No doubt about that," Ulrich muttered.

"Oh-ho! So you wanna play, XANA? Well, _come on!"_ Odd growled, shaking his fist in the air.

_"Odd…!"_ Jeremy warned. "Public…!"

"Sorry," he chuckled. "Force of habit."

* * *

"What—AHH!" Anderson shouted as a black cloud erupted from the main console and went straight into him. As it enveloped him, all his employees screamed and left the room while XANA took over his body. When the possession was finished, Anderson looked up with a smirk and XANA's mark in his eyes.

With an evil, distorted laugh, XANA-fied Anderson hurried into the closet and began putting on a hazmat suit.

* * *

Jeremy pulled out his laptop, opening the lid and typing extensively. A beep alerted him that there was—in fact—a tower activated, but it was nowhere to be found. "Uh, there's a tower, but…it's nowhere."

"What do you mean?" Aelita asked, leaning over his shoulder to look.

Jeremy pointed his hand at the screen. "I mean, there's coordinates, but no sector."

"What does this mean?" Ulrich asked.

Jeremy turned to the brunette slowly. "We may have ourselves a new sector."

* * *

Anderson punched in the code for the nuclear reactor room and stepped inside, the door closing behind him. Hurrying over to the large device in the center, he took out a large container that was under his arm and opened it. He then proceeded to open the reactor chamber. As he did so, alarms began going off as the chamber drawer opened, revealing the small stick of uranium. Picking it up with his hands, he shoved it in the container and hurried out of the room.

As soon as he left, a computerized voice sounded overhead. "WARNING! WARNING! CHAMBER EMPTY! PLEASE RETURN URANIUM TO CHAMBER!"

* * *

"Oh, _what_ now?" Ulrich groaned, the alarm blaring once more.

"WARNING! WARNING! SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED! PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!" the voice boomed overhead.

_"WHAT?!"_ Odd exclaimed.

"XANA must've stolen the uranium and then activated the self-destruct protocol!" Jeremy exclaimed as alarms blared and kids ran around screaming. "Come on! We have to get to the factory, quick!"

"KIDS! STAY CALM!" Mrs. Hertz shouted, trying desperately to keep her students together, but to no avail.

"And just _why_ did we have to come to a nuclear power plant?" Odd groaned.

"We have to let Yumi know what's going on," Ulrich demanded as they ran for the doors.

"Good idea. Give her a call, would you?" Jeremy said.

With a nod, Ulrich dialed Yumi's number.

"Hello…?" Yumi whispered, sitting in her chair in her classroom.

"Yumi, it's Ulrich. Get to the factory. XANA's stolen the uranium from the plant and activated the self-destruct sequence!" Ulrich screamed into his mobile.

Hearing the alarms on the other end, she winced. "I'll be there soon," she whispered. Hanging up her cell, she raised her hand. "Um, Mr. H! I have to use the restroom."

"Go ahead, Yumi," he said.

As Yumi hurried out of the classroom, William watched her with suspicion in his eyes. After a moment, he too raised his hand. "Could I go to the infirmary? I don't feel too well," he said.

"Sure, William."

He raced out after her.

* * *

Ulrich hung up, turning to his friends. "She's on her way."

"Good," Jeremy said with a smile.

"Question: How are we getting to the factory if it's 12 miles away?" Odd asked. "I'm not running that far!"

Aelita eyed her friend. "I don't think we have any choice but to take the bus."

"Ooh! Ooh! I call it!" Odd said, raising his hand and jumping up and down. "I _so_ call driving!"

Jeremy shook his head and held up his hands. _"Ohhh_ no! You _aren't_ driving. I don't trust you."

"I think Aelita should drive," Ulrich volunteered.

"Huh?" Aelita asked bluntly.

"That's a good idea. She's had more experience than us, and can drive better," he acknowledged.

"Okay then…let's go!" she said.

As they all hurried for the main entrance at the end of the hall, a whirring noise met their ears and they stopped to look behind them. Heavy metal doors slammed shut behind them, secluding select areas of the hall off from the world.

"XANA's trying to close us in!" Aelita exclaimed.

"Get Aelita out at all costs!" Jeremy ordered and his friends nodded.

"GO!" Ulrich shouted as they all ran for it, the doors closing one by one and getting ever so closer to them.

"Come on, Odd!" Aelita ordered with a wave of her hand.

"I can't…run…anymore!" he puffed, stopping to catch his breath with his hands on his knees.

"Odd!" Ulrich shouted, reaching out his hand, but the door had already closed.

"Ulrich, let's go!" Jeremy called.

The brunette turned around to hurry after his two friends, but whammed his face on a metal door, falling to the ground. "Oh, no!" he groaned, whipping to his feet and pounding on it.

Jeremy stopped and turned around, but realized that XANA wasn't closing any more doors. "Ulrich! Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me! Get to the factory!" he shouted, his voice muffled.

Aelita turned to Jeremy. "You heard him. Let's go, Jeremy," she said, her hand on his shoulder.

After a moment of hesitation, the two hurried for the door and out to the bus.

* * *

Yumi stopped to rest outside of the manhole, her hand on a tree as she caught her breath. A twig snapped to her left and she immediately jumped to action in her Pencak Silat defense pose. "Who's there?" she growled.

"Relax, Yumi. Sheesh!" William said, coming out from the bushes and holding out his hands in defense. "I figured something was up, so I tagged along, and what do you know! You're on your way to the factory. How interesting."

"I'm sorry, William, but I don't have any time to talk. XANA's gonna blow up the nuclear plant if I don't get to Lyoko," she said.

"Blow it up?" he echoed in surprise.

"Yeah, now if you'll excuse me—"

William grabbed her arm as she turned around, causing her to stop in her tracks. "Let me come with you. I can help!"

She yanked her arm from his grasp. "No, you can't. I'm sorry, William, but ever since you were possessed by XANA, the whole group is hesitant to trust you again. You went headfirst into battle like it was nothing, and look what happened!"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault! I got possessed against my own _will!"_ he growled, slapping his chest. "It's not like I wanted to hurt you guys at all, you know! Hurting people is something I do _not_ do!"

"I'm sorry…" Yumi murmured. "It's for your own good." And with that, she hurried into the manhole and to the factory.

William sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and kicking at the grass. "Stupid Yumi…thinks she knows me…" he muttered. Looking up into the cloudy sky, he frowned. No matter what she said, he was going to follow her. Making his decision, he quickly took off for the bridge.

* * *

"We're in a pickle, huh, buddy?" Odd laughed, his voice muffled.

Ulrich sat against the heavy metal door, growing quite used to the alarms that were going off—either that, or he was going deaf. "You got _that_ right."

"I sure hope they can deactivate the tower in time," Odd said, leaning against the door.

"Of course they will. It's unlike them to not make it in time," Ulrich reassured his friend.

"But also what Einstein said about the new sector worries me. What if it's a trap?" Odd asked.

"If it's a trap, then they'll deal with it," Ulrich sighed. "We can't do anything at all in the positions we're in."

Odd just laughed, shaking his head and sliding down the length of the wall. "Yeah…" he murmured to himself.

* * *

Jeremy zapped the wires together from underneath the dashboard, hoping to start the bus up manually. They didn't have the key, as the bus driver had left during the hour they were there to go to lunch in the facility's break room. As soon as the wires sparked and the engine turned over, Jeremy sat up with a smile, wiping his hands off in front of him.

"How'd you learn to do that?" Aelita asked, amazed.

Jeremy scratched the back of his head nervously. "Ehh, Patrick taught me when we were younger," he chuckled. "I really _did_ sure get into a lot of trouble for it, though…"

"Okay!" Aelita hopped up into the driver's seat and buckled herself in, placing both hands firmly on the wheel. "Let's get going. No time to waste."

"That plant has about thirty minutes until it explodes," Jeremy told her as she began to pick up speed. "We'll make it to the factory in ten, so then we'll have twenty to deactivate the tower."

"What if we don't make it in time?" she asked, both eyes on the road ahead. "I mean, we'd only have Yumi to protect me, and I don't think XANA will go easy this time."

After a moment or two, Jeremy blinked and looked at her. "We don't just have Yumi."

* * *

William peeked around the beam supporting the bridge, watching as Yumi climbed up out of the hole and hurried towards the factory. After he was sure she was inside, he followed her again, waiting outside beside the gaping entrance to make sure she went down the elevator before he hurried inside. Grabbing a rope, he swung down and jumped off with a grunt, and began off towards the mechanics room to climb down the ladder to the lab in hopes of cutting her off.

* * *

"You're talking about William, aren't you?" Aelita asked as she sped through a yellow light. "Are you sure we can trust him again?"

"I'm light to giving second chances," Jeremy said. "But if Yumi gets devirtualized and you get in trouble on Lyoko, who's going to help?"

"Why couldn't you?" she asked.

He looked away from her. "I… I don't…"

She sighed quietly. "You don't like going there, I understand," she replied. "I know you would protect me, Jeremy, but don't worry. I understand why."

The genius smiled up at her. "Thanks, Aelita."

"Hey, no problem," she giggled with a smile. "Besides, from what I heard, you look pretty ridiculous, anyway."

His cheeks lit up bright red and he furrowed his brow. "Hey, just because Odd and Ulrich say I look ridiculous doesn't mean I do!" he puffed.

"Okay, I believe you!" she laughed.

Still embarrassed, Jeremy looked out the window as Aelita continued to drive to the factory.

* * *

Yumi breathed a sigh of anxiousness as the elevator doors opened, revealing the lab, the holomap of Lyoko brightly lighting up the room. She stepped over to the computer and hopped up onto the chair, looking at the screens. There was a picture of a tower up on the screen, and she tapped her chin. "Let's see if I can remember how to do this…" she murmured to herself, hesitantly typing on the keyboard, looking up at the screen every now and again to check her progress.

Meanwhile, on the floor above her, William ducked through a small hole in order to get to the ladder that would allow him to climb down to the lab below. He blinked at the ladder, seeing the glow from the lab underneath him, hearing someone typing away on the keyboard. He took a deep breath and steeled himself for what he was about to do, and then began to climb down.

Yumi turned around after hearing the footsteps on the ladder, frowning deeply. "William! I thought I told you not to follow me!" she growled.

Reaching the bottom of the ladder, he frowned as well. "If I want to help, I'm gonna help, understand? I can't leave knowing that someone may die, and that I could've helped to prevent it! Don't you get it, Yumi? I'm not some frightened kid who gets angry over someone taking his crayon, okay! Not letting me help is making me mad! I offer help only to people I trust with my life, and you're one of them; the others are the rest." He sighed and looked at the floor in front of him. "Just let me help…"

Yumi's gaze softened as she looked at William. She had to admit, he wasn't the same hot-headed, arrogant, self-centered boy that he had been when he had first come to Kadic. Maybe over the break he had changed for the better, and her heart just tore in two as she thought over what he had said. He looked back up at her, pleading with his eyes. She looked away, for fear that she'd give in too easily. She wasn't that kind of girl, but…

Sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose, Yumi looked back at William. "Okay, you can help."

"Really?" he said, surprised. "Does this mean I'm back in the group?"

"Unfortunately, no," she answered. "I'm not the sole vote you have to wait on. You're going to have to take that up with the rest of the group, and I'm not too sure they'll want you back."

William shrugged. "I understand completely if they don't want me back," he said. "I just want to help in some way."

She smiled.

* * *

"Let's go!" Aelita said as her and Jeremy hopped off the bus and through the factory entrance, each gripping a rope and swinging down to the elevator. As soon as they stepped inside, they wasted no time pressing the code to get to the lab.

* * *

Yumi looked up, hearing the whir of the elevator. "They're here!" she exclaimed, hopping down from the chair, and pointing at William. "Stay there," she ordered.

"Sure," William replied.

As soon as the doors opened, Yumi was there in front of them waiting. "Oh, thank goodness—wait, where's Ulrich? And Odd?"

"They got trapped," Jeremy explained as they stepped inside the lab. "We don't have any time to waste. You two girls have to get to the scanners."

"Ahem."

All three of them turned and saw William standing next to the computer, hands in his pockets with a hopeful smile on his face.

"What…" Jeremy broke off, pointing in his direction.

William held up his hands in defense. "You don't have to say anything. I'll stay here if you want me to."

The three of them shared a glance, and then turned to each other in a huddle. "Okay, let's not waste time. Should we have William come with us?" Yumi asked Jeremy.

He didn't answer, instead turning to Aelita. She blinked at him. "Is it up to me?" When he nodded, she continued. "Well, I-I guess… If you guys are okay with it, then I am too."

Yumi nodded and turned around, clapping her hands together. "Okay, William!" She waved for him to follow. "Come on."

"You…you really mean it?" he asked, taking a hesitant step forward.

"Yes! Now come on; hurry!" Yumi said, opening the elevator.

After another hesitation, William chuckled to himself happily and hurried after the two girls as they all stepped into the elevator and went down into the scanners.

"Are you sure he won't be XANA-fied once we get back on Lyoko…?" Aelita whispered to Yumi.

She just shrugged.

* * *

"WARNING! 15 MINUTES LEFT TO EVACUATE!" the voice boomed overhead.

Ulrich sighed, his hand on the side of his face in boredom. "I sure wish I could help out on Lyoko…" he murmured to himself.

"And some!" Odd chirped from the other side.

Ulrich laughed to himself.

* * *

"Virtualization!" Jeremy shouted into the earpiece.

The three were scanned into the environment, landing on their feet—except for William. He landed on his back with a grunt, the wind knocked out of his lungs. "Ouch…" he groaned.

"Get up, will ya?" Yumi ordered.

As William slowly got to his feet, Aelita's eyebrow rose. "Um…guys?"

"Hm?" Yumi hummed, turning to Aelita. Her speechless expression gave away her confusion, and Yumi turned to look around. "Oh, wow…!" she exclaimed softly as she took in what was around her.

The area consisted of just clouds, near and far, rolling like hills in the distance with a sun bearing down on them from high up above. "Oh, I can feel sunlight!" Aelita said.

"What's going on, guys?" Jeremy asked.

"We found the new sector," Aelita told him.

"A new sector? Wasn't this already here before?" William asked.

Yumi shook her head. "Nope, this is completely new."

"What does it look like?" Einstein called.

"Just clouds," Aelita explained. "With a life-like sun."

He tapped his chin. "Interesting. For now, we'll call it Sector 6 until we come up with a better name."

"Vehicles, Jer?" Yumi reminded him.

"Oh, right! Right away."

William looked around him at all the clouds, and then his gaze traveled to below his feet. He chuckled. "Wow, were even _walking_ on the clouds without falling through! How cool is that?"

Just then, the Overwing and Overbike virtualized in front of them, Yumi and Aelita hopping on the Overwing, leaving William befuddled. "I gave you Ulrich's Overbike to ride, William. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Then you have another think coming, Einstein," he laughed, hopping on the bike and revving the engine. "He sure does have good taste, though."

"Let's go!" Yumi said with a nod, revving her engine and pushing forward, William following close behind.

"Question: If this is all clouds, won't I—you know—fall off because I'm on a bike?" William asked.

"Not if you put it into hover mode," Aelita advised.

He looked in front of him, noticing a gap that was too large to hop over, his eyes widening. "Uh…_how?_ Please!"

"Press the button on the dash!" she told him.

Looking down, he noticed there were two different buttons. "Oh, _come on!"_ he growled, pressing the red button. Suddenly, the bike jumped forward, kicking into overdrive and zooming faster towards the gap. "AHH! Not that one!" he screamed, pressing the green button. The Overbike lifted off the ground and into the air just before he hit the gap, earning a sigh of relief from the ebony-haired teen.

"No fooling around, William. Come on," Yumi told him, flying past him towards the tower in the distance.

He watched as she zoomed by, and then followed after her. Strangely, as he pushed up next to her, the sunlight turned a dark red, flooding the whole sector in the color of blood. "Um, what's going on?" he asked, looking around.

"Jeremy, something's wrong!" Yumi exclaimed.

"There are at least a dozen monsters coming up on your tail! They're new; I can't tell what they are!" he advised them, grabbing onto his earpiece and positioning it better as he typed away. "Be careful! Protect Aelita!"

Yumi looked behind her and saw at least a dozen winged beasts following them, their wingspan at least 12 meters in length. "Dragons!" she shouted, just as they all opened their mouths, firing large fireballs in their direction.

William dodged a fireball, weaving through the air and thrusting the bike forward faster. "This just became Hell!" he yelled.

"Oh, Odd would've _loved_ that one," Yumi laughed as she dodged more and more fireballs.

* * *

"Why do I have the feeling someone somewhere just made a hilarious joke?" Odd asked, rubbing his nose.

"Huh?" Ulrich shouted through the doors.

"Nothing!" he answered.

* * *

"Push through! We have to make it!" Jeremy told them, watching the clock that he had put up as it counted down. Five minutes were left on the clock.

"Aelita, I'm going to give you cover," William told the pinkette. "You and Yumi have to make it safely to the tower."

"But wait—!" But she cut off just as he turned around and raced straight for the monsters. "William!"

The teen put on his game face, reaching out his hand and materializing his Zweihander, hopping up on the seat of the Overbike as it raced past a Dragon. He jumped off the bike with a battle cry and pierced the Dragon next to him on its back where the eye of XANA was, as in the meantime, the Overbike whammed into another Dragon's head, causing it to cry out and fall from the sky and through the clouds below. Quickly, William jumped off of the one he was riding and onto another one as it exploded, stabbing his sword into its back. The Dragon cried out in pain as William wiggled the sword back and forth.

Suddenly, the one he was on spiraled over and over in the air, causing William's foothold to cease, him holding onto the handle in his sword for dear life as it spun around and around. As soon as it was positioned straight in the air, he pushed the sword in farther, devirtualizing it and also causing him to plummet straight down.

He didn't get far though, as three of the Dragons fired their fireballs at him, combining together and hitting him straight on, causing a mini explosion of data as he was devirtualized.

Back in the lab, William's avatar disappeared off the screen, and Jeremy sighed. "Guys, William was devirtualized. I hope you're almost there! There's only two minutes left!"

"We're at the tower, Jeremy!" Aelita told him.

He let out a sigh of relief as William climbed up the ladder, puffing for breath. "Whoo! Go girls!" he exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air.

* * *

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN T-MINUS 60 SECONDS!" the voice alerted them.

The students all screamed in terror, cowering in the corner of the room with all the adults.

In the hall, Ulrich let out a sigh of hopelessness, shaking his head and looking down at the ground. He turned around and punched the door, ignoring the pain that rushed to his knuckles. He let out a cry of defeat, pushing himself to not cry no matter what happened.

"It's gonna be okay, Ulrich," Odd told him, leaning up against the door, face towards his direction. "We're gonna be okay."

* * *

Aelita hopped off the Overwing and hurried into the tower after giving Yumi a nod. As soon as she was inside, the Dragons caught up to Yumi and fired at her, devirtualizing her the same way they had done William.

Stepping up into the center of the platform, the white halo enveloped her and she began to float up to the top.

* * *

"T-MINUS, 10…"

Ulrich growled in pain and frustration as he—once again—punched the door.

"9…"

"Ulrich, please…" Odd sighed.

"8…"

A lone tear escaped Ulrich's eye.

* * *

Jeremy began to bite his nails as the countdown entered the final five seconds. "Come on…!"

Aelita pressed her palm to the console.

* * *

"3…"

"UGH!" Ulrich kicked the door as hard as he could.

The console displayed Aelita's name.

"2…"

Odd lowered his head onto his knees in defeat.

"1…"

* * *

Aelita typed in the code. "Tower deactivated!"

"RETURN TO THE PAST, NOW!" Jeremy shouted, pressing the 'enter' key.

**~Code Lyoko~**

"And _no_ wandering off anywhere off limits!" Mrs. Hertz warned, looking straight at Odd.

Odd just laughed and shook his head as the class dispelled. "If you've heard it once, you've heard it millions of times."

"Anyway, are we all okay?" Jeremy asked, looking around the group. "We almost had a nuclear catastrophe," he added more quietly.

"Yeah, we're good," Ulrich put in with a nod. "I'll tell you what, after this trip and while XANA's still at large, I'm _never_ going to another power plant in my life."

The group just laughed.

* * *

On Lyoko in Sector 6, an army of monsters collected in the very center of the sector, surrounding a lone someone, who lay slumped on top of the cloud, eyes closed.

"Awaken…my son…" a voice boomed from overhead.

A few moments after the voice ceased, the teen slowly awakened, opening his eyes, revealing XANA's symbol in the center.

* * *

**A/N:** Whoa...whoa...WHOA! who's at the end thar? XD anyway, the reason I had odd rubbing his nose cus he thought someone made a hilarious joke was that I was told if someone talks about you your nose will itch, but that's just what I was told, so XD

Review :)

P.S. The reason why I don't have the next time on code Lyoko reloaded thing is because I don't have any of the chapter typed out yet, which is also why the next air date has a question mark next to it. sorry lol


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